PDB Situation Report | April 19th, 2025: How Long Can The Tariff War Last & A Ground Campaign Coming In Yemen?
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Who hosts the PDB Situation Report and what is today's focus?
Welcome to the PDB Situation Report. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. We'll start things off with new fallout in the U.S.-China tariff war. Perhaps you've heard about this. Factories are idling, orders are vanishing, and the pressure is mounting on both sides. Now, how much longer, you ask, can both sides endure the pain? Heritage Foundation's Preston Brashers joins us to break it down. Later in the show, we'll turn to the Middle East, where the ongoing strikes against the Houthi rebels appear to be reigniting Yemen's decade-long civil war, with government forces reportedly planning a ground offensive against the wounded terror group. Bill Roggio of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies gives his insight.
But first, today's PDB Spotlight. The pressure from President Trump's sweeping tariffs is starting to hit home in China. At export hubs like Guangzhou and Shenzhen, factories are going quiet. Orders from U.S. buyers are being canceled, inventory is piling up, and workers are bracing for layoffs. One export manager told local media he's never seen this kind of slowdown in 20 years. Meanwhile, ports are jammed and uncertainty is seeping into every corner of China's manufacturing base. This all sounds very dire, doesn't it? The question now, how long can China absorb this slowdown? And how much longer can Washington keep turning up the pressure without feeling a major impact here in the U.S. ? Joining us now to break it all down is Preston Brashers.
He's a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Preston, thanks very much for joining us here on the Situation Report. Yeah, thanks a lot for having me, Mike. What we're hoping to do is to approach the talk about the trade war with China from an economics perspective. And let's look at it from that direction, as opposed to what I think a lot of the conversation has been, which is, okay, how is this impacting China on the home front? Let's start with sort of a layman's explanation for tariffs in general, and then we can start drilling down towards a specific battle between the US and China.
What are tariffs and how have they evolved in U.S. history?
Yeah. So, I mean, tariffs are a form of tax, but they're tax on products that are crossing into the United States from other countries. And so, this has been part of the The way that the United States has raised revenues from the outset, it used to be a much larger part of the US revenues back before we had an income tax. Since the income tax has come into existence, tariffs have become a much smaller portion of what we have. But tariffs can be, they're opposed on both intermediate goods, so you can talk about manufacturers that might have some inputs that they're buying from overseas. So, it can have some effect on domestic manufacturers as well. But it also is going to hit consumer products, and obviously, we purchase a lot of consumer products from China. Think your smartphones, laptops. Although, it should be noted that President Trump The 225% tariffs, he's put some exemptions in place.
Some of these products, some of these intermediate goods, they're making consideration for some of these things that perhaps could have a deep and immediate impact. They're trying to be mindful about this, I think, but obviously this is a huge step that the administration has taken. They're not wasting any time and kind of trying to address these China issues.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who hosts the PDB Situation Report and what is today's focus?
0:51–3:02
2
What are tariffs and how have they evolved in U.S. history?
3:02–8:36
3
What economic impact are U.S. tariffs having on China and the U.S.?
8:36–12:16
4
How do tariffs affect U.S. consumers and manufacturers?
12:16–14:20
5
What is a border adjustment tax and how does it relate to tariffs?
14:20–17:07
6
How have international markets and allies responded to the tariff war?
17:07–18:56
7
What is the timeline for U.S. consumers to feel the effects of tariffs?
18:56–20:26
8
Is onshoring manufacturing to the U.S. a realistic expectation?
20:26–52:56
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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