President Trump’s trade war trundled on this week, with neither a sense of what Trump wants to do nor any relief in sight. CEOs at three big retailers, Home Depot, Target, and Walmart, told Trump directly that steep tariffs “could disrupt supply chains, raise prices, and empty shelves, according to sources familiar with the meeting.”
Stock prices — and with them, Americans’ retirement accounts — have kept sagging, leading to this stark headline: “Dow Headed for Worst April Since 1932 as Investors Send ‘No Confidence’ Signal.” (When the outcomes of your economic policies draw comparisons to the pits of the Great Depression, that’s bad.)
(WSJ) – The Trump rout is taking on historic [email protected] www.wsj.com/finance/inve…
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) 2025-04-22T11:12:04.389Z
This reality is forcing the White House to find ways to walk it back: the Wall Street Journal reported that administration sources say Trump may lower tariffs on imports from China, which are poised to force some goods from that country to sell at 2½ times their current prices. Supply disruptions for purchasers of Chinese-manufactured goods are already happening; officials at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., say that year over year, the number of vessels from China scheduled to arrive over the first full week of May has dropped by 44%.
"Huge decline at LA port is a hit to truckers—and a stark warning of coming tariff damage" fortune.com/article/huge…
— Scott Lincicome (@scottlincicome.bsky.social) 2025-04-25T11:45:21.541Z
Trump still insists that he’s working behind the scenes to reach an agreement with Chinese officials — but officials from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs say no talks with Washington have taken place. Meanwhile, small business owners face the question of whether to cut jobs — or even close shop — rather than deal with tariffs they can’t afford.
Devastating episode of The Daily in which a small manufacturer explains why Trump's tariffs are likely to cost her house, and how unfeasible it is for a small manufacturer to scale up manufacturing in the US: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/p…
— Ethan Zuckerman (@ethanz.bsky.social) 2025-04-14T15:59:19.421+00:00
- White House Considers Slashing China Tariffs to De-Escalate Trade War [The Wall Street Journal]