If “Tariffs” were a song, it would certainly break the record for most weeks at the top of the Billboard charts this year.
It’s the gift that keeps on giving to journalists, pundits, analysts, and commentators — but a gift to nobody else in the real world.
Are you in the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” camp or the “Disruption is the mother of reinvention” camp?
As with most things in life, the right approach is probably in the muddy space between the two.
That said, I have enjoyed all the “Liberation Day” memes online, as well as people sharing this classing scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”:
Okay, let’s move on. Here’s the supply chain and logistics news that caught my attention this week:
- Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Declares National Emergency to Increase our Competitive Edge, Protect our Sovereignty, and Strengthen our National and Economic Security
- Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Closes De Minimis Exemptions to Combat China’s Role in America’s Synthetic Opioid Crisis
- China imposes 34% reciprocal tariffs on imports of US goods in retaliation for Trump’s trade war (CNN)
- Statement from Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO [on Tariffs]
- Trump’s Tariffs Are Truly Global. Just Ask the Penguins of McDonald Islands. (WSJ – sub. req’d)
- Shippers snap up airfreight capacity to US ahead of tariff deadline (The Loadstar)
- This Mexican Border Town Had Chaotic Trade-War Dress Rehearsal (WSJ – sub. req’d)
- Truck Drivers Could Get Up to $10,000 in Tax Breaks Under New Bill (SupplyChain247)
- The Drone-Delivery Service Beating Amazon to Your Front Door (WSJ – sub. req’d)
- Amazon resumes drone deliveries after two-month pause (CNBC)
- Amazon will step up efforts against potential theft by warehouse employees (Quartz)
“Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up.”
If you’re interested in all the nuts and bolts of the tariffs announced on April 2 (and those nuts and bolts are now subject to import tariffs too), you can read all the announcements and articles linked above. But here are some of the highlights (or lowlights, if you prefer):
- A blanket 10% tariff on all imports.
- Additional tariffs on goods from about 60 countries that have a high trade deficit with the United States. China and the European Union, for example, will be levied new duties of 34% and 20%, respectively. In China’s case, when you take into account pre-existing tariffs, Chinese goods will be subjected to import tariffs of over 54%.
- Canadian and Mexican goods that are compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will continue to be tariff-free.
- President Trump is ending duty-free de minimis treatment for covered goods from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong starting May 2, 2025.
As expected, China announced today that it will impose reciprocal 34% tariffs on all imports from the United States beginning on April 10.
What more can I say that hasn’t been said before by others more notable than me:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
— George Santayana“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
— Albert Einstein“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.”
— Karl Marx“Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up.”
— Ronald Wright
When you couple this trade war with the rise of anti-semitism, the rise of nationalism, and growing military conflicts and threats around the world (Russia-Ukraine, the Middle East, China-Taiwan), it’s beginning to feel a lot like the 1930s. Let’s hope what happened next in the past doesn’t happen again in the future. It would be nothing but a tragedy.
And on that depressing note, I have nothing else to say this morning other than have a meaningful weekend!
Song of the Week: “Land of Confusion” by Genesis
