They Just Gave Trump Exactly What He Wanted
FULL TRANSCRIPT
The Supreme Court just struck down
Trump's tariffs and
companies are eyeing the opportunity to
get a massive refund. You've got
boardrooms going crazy. They're
celebrating. You've got some everyday
people out in the streets dancing. So
happy that these tariffs have been
struck down. But I'm noticing that most
people are completely missing, what this
actually means and are completely
illprepared for what might come next.
But let's go ahead and break down what
just happened and what this means for
you and your money. First, let's get it
understood that the Trump administration
is not about to just lay down and not
find a workaround and just hand out
money that they don't really have.
Trump has already immediately put down a
10% global tariff on top of anything
that already still stands. Today, I will
sign an order to impose a 10% global
tariff under section 122 over and above
our normal tariffs already being
charged. And we're also initiating
several section 301 and other
investigations to protect our country
from unfair trading practices of other
countries and companies. But let's go
ahead and perform a little mental
exercise here. We're going to act like
the tariffs are actually going to go
away for a second. Stick with me. To do
this, we have to fully understand what a
tariff actually is and how it works. A
tariff is a tax imposed by a government
on imported goods and services designed
to make foreign products more expensive,
protect domestic industries, or raise
government revenue. Now, the one who
actually pays this tax is the business
that is importing the good or service
into the United States. They will then
sell that good or service to an American
consumer. But there's an unending debate
about who ends up actually paying the
bill because some people think that the
importer is just going to raise prices
and that is what they do to offset the
higher tax. So in the end the consumer
just pays that tax through inflation.
Now others say that the exporter is
going to lower their prices and they
take the hit. Now others say that
everyone here just shares a bit of the
hit and you get shrinking profits for
businesses uh both the exporter and the
importer and you get a little bit of a
higher price for the end consumer.
Now what we saw in the data is that
consumers paid higher prices on imported
goods last year. One study saw about a
76 basis point increase in all goods CPI
pricing. Now, let's just imagine for a
second that the tariffs go away and all
of the importers are going to just get
their money back. There was about 120 to
$179 billion in the EA collections that
would be returned to these importers.
Now, let's keep it real for a second.
Consumers already paid for the goods and
services that they bought last year at
inflated prices and the prices are
already higher. Companies are not going
to lower prices because tariffs went
away. No, the prices are going to stay
high and the corporations will
hypothetically get their funds back and
keep it pushing. People already lost
their jobs due to the fear and
uncertainty that tariffs brought. The
tariff going away is not going to get
these people their jobs back. The only
winner here is the corporation and even
they would potentially be in court for
years before they actually see that
money. Now, let's come back to reality
for a second.
The Trump administration has already
outlined several different ways in which
they can still implement tariffs even if
the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act tariffs are struck down.
>> But if you lose, what what do you do?
>> But the ultimate goal here that the the
revenue and I have been very consistent
on this that tariffs are a shrinking ice
cube. The ultimate goal is to rebalance
trade and to bring back domestic
production. Okay,
>> look, there are we can recreate the
exact tariff structure with 301's, with
232s, with the I think they're called
122,
>> but not permanently
>> permanently.
>> You think you're
>> well the 122s aren't permanently, but
the others we can do it.
>> As Scott Besson said, the ultimate goal
here is rebalancing trade and to bring
back domestic production. The US is a
net importer of total goods and
services, meaning they consistently run
a trade deficit by purchasing more from
countries than it sells to them. Tariffs
rebalance trade because the higher
prices to import encourage finding
domestic alternatives, decreasing the
net import position of the United
States. This also encourages domestic
production because at some point you're
better off making and selling goods and
services within the United States
instead of relying on a volatile and
hostile environment for continuing to
import goods. You don't want to keep
dealing with the fact that tariffs might
go up by 100% on this or that product at
any point in time. So my point is
the Trump administration is going to
rebalance trade and encourage domestic
production
by pretty much any means. In President
Trump's speech responding right after
the Supreme Court's decision, he
mentions a little thing called a 122
and he mentions that guy's friend 301.
And these are also not area codes by the
way. And what he is referring to here is
section 122 and section 301
which are specific provisions within the
trade act of 1974.
Section 122 specifically addresses
balance of payments authority and this
is a lesser used temporary tool designed
for quick responses to urgent economic
issues. And this allows the president to
proclaim temporary import sir charges
tariffs of up to 15% on top of any
existing duties to address large and
serious US balance of payments deficits
or fundamental international payment
problems. Now section 122 does not
require a formal study and instead can
be implemented just upon presidential
determination.
But the measures here automatically
expire after 150 days unless Congress
extends them by legislation.
When it comes to section 301, this is
more about relief from unfair trade
practices. And this is a more
established and frequently used
authority, especially against China in
Trump's first term. Now, what this
allows is for the US trade
representative, often at the president's
direction, to investigate foreign
government acts, policies, or practices
that are unjustifiable, unreasonable, or
discriminatory. If findings confirm
issues, then the US trade representative
can impose tariffs or negotiate binding
agreements. These kinds of tariffs have
no statutory cap on rates or scope. Now
this does require a formal investigation
and then the tariffs will be reviewed
after 4 years and can be extended if
beneficial to US industry. Now that's
122 and 301. But then we've got section
338. Now, this one right here is the one
we got to look at. And this is seen as
the nuclear option or essentially the
plan B when something like what just
happened occurs. And this is about
discrimination by foreign countries.
This allows the president once again to
put new or additional duties of up to
15% on top of any existing duties. And
this can be imposed on imports from any
country that he finds as a fact is
discriminating against US commerce. This
one does not require a formal
investigation or agency report. The
president just makes the findings and
proclaims the duties would kick in after
30 days and there's no time limits on
duration. But the point here is that
there are options. All right? They got
options and they are very likely to use
them. Justice Kavanaaugh, one of the
Supreme Court justices, pointed out that
the Supreme Court decision also
effectively means that Trump has ways to
unilaterally ban all foreign imports.
Just another pod guy outlined on X how
the administration can essentially force
countries to pay tariffs by creating a
security tax where the US simply doesn't
import anything until that tax is paid.
Now, this is not financial advice. I am
not a financial adviser and I highly
recommend that you do not take financial
advice from a random guy walking around
a park
talking to a stick.
But if the administration does not find
a way to implement tariffs the way that
they want to and have to give a refund
to companies, then the US would very
likely have to make that money come out
of nowhere, which means they would need
to print it. Um, you know, a refund of
more than hund00 billion would be larger
than the budget for several different
large federal agencies. And that kind of
money isn't necessarily just sitting
around. If they print more, you're
basically going to see increased
borrowing that needs to occur from the
US Treasury. And
that's probably going to have to get
bought by the Fed, which means that
they're going to have to print money to
make that happen. Not saying that has to
be how it goes, but that's a pretty
likely scenario to look out for. Now, if
they find another way to get these
tariffs done, then it would actually be
important to look at what way in which
they actually get it done because this
will change the impact that these
tariffs are going to have across several
industries depending on which ones get
hit. There will likely be a focus on
more uh of the rare earth minerals,
okay, and energy and anything related to
AI and chip manufacturing. So, keep an
eye on these industries and any
opportunities for US domestic production
to become a winner in all of this. But I
don't know, maybe I've completely lost
the plot. What did I miss? What did I
get wrong? Or how could I be looking at
this differently? Let me know in the
comments down below. I'm going live
right here on YouTube on my channel to
talk about this in depth at 2 p.m.
Eastern on Saturday. So, if it's
Saturday,
look down below and you can actually
find the link to this live stream. Join
me there. We're going to break this down
and more. And if you haven't already,
you got to subscribe to my live show
that I do with Ben Levit. It's called
Memes and Markets. We go live every
Tuesday and Thursday at 12:00 p.m.
Eastern, and we talk about topics like
this and much more. And you can join us
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where I answer questions. I'm Keith D
here to talk everything money and
markets. And if you got anything from
this at all whatsoever, be sure to hit
that like button and subscribe. And
until next time, peace.
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