The United States is facing down an existential threat right now.
That existential threat comes from a lack of willpower. It comes from a doubt about what America is. But in terms of foreign policy, that existential threat comes from a team-up that has been growing.
That team-up is between China — which is really the sponsor state of the anti-American bloc — and its friends like Russia and Iran.
The existential threat doesn&#8217;t mean that China is going to attack the United States.
It does mean that as the United States recedes from the world, Russia will expand its sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. China will expand its sphere of influence, not just in the Far East, but also in Africa, across the rest of Asia into South America. The United States is going to be in the unenviable position of having to withdraw from the world, and we will no longer be able to guarantee freedom of the seas.
A United States with no economic allies, a United States that is a secondary partner for all the rest of these countries while China is a primary partner, is a United States that has an economy that is shrinking, a United States that is forced within its own borders.
That is a problem.
There is this bizarre notion that has arisen on the Right that if the United States were to be essentially an autarky and withdraw from the rest of the world, suddenly things would get better. The belief that the amount that we expend in foreign aid, for example, or military expenditure, is a complete waste of money, and if we just spent that money at home, then magically everything would get better.
The problem, of course, is that the world is interconnected. The reason that you can obtain better, cheaper products that make your life easier every single day is because the interconnection of world trade makes that possible. And that, of course, is only possible because of the power of the United States economy and the power of the United States military.
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Why do I bring that up? Because China seems to be posing a broader and broader threat, and yet there is a bizarre unwillingness on the Left to acknowledge the threat that is China.
And on the Right, there seems to be an unwillingness to deal with the actual realities of what it would mean to face down China in a responsible and coherent fashion.
In the West, there is the bizarre perception that what we ought to do is radically increase tariffs, not just on China — which would be retaliatory and worthwhile — but on everywhere else. 
That is a gigantic mistake. And it leads to questions about the overall policy of the United States vis-à-vis China.
What exactly are we trying to do vis-à-vis China? 
I&#8217;ve made the case that if you wish to face down China, you have to do a few things. One is that you need closer trade and security relationships, not more attenuated relationships, with other countries surrounding China, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and India.
Better relations with those countries will help box in and essentially isolate China. If China wants to cheat, if they don&#8217;t want to play by the rules, if China wishes to beggar its neighbor, let them pursue an autarkic economic policy.
Autarky tends to make the country pursuing it poorer over time. Initially, it looks like an explosion of economic activity, but over time, as countries start pouring resources into less efficient modes of manufacturing in order to do it at home, rather than to import those products from abroad, they tend to empty themselves out.
This is the common pattern in economics. Every mercantilist or fascist economic system that has worked like this shows very good early growth numbers. And then that growth curve eventually peters out, and the country ends up with economic stagnation.
This happened in Japan. It happened in South Korea. If you go back prior to World War II, this happened in Germany. One of the reasons that Germany, under the Nazis, had to become an expansionist power is because Germany tried to pursue economic autarky in the 1930s, and they saw, for a brief moment in time, a gigantic manufacturing boom, people getting off unemployment lines, moving out of the Weimar Republic era.
But as it turns out, they were doing that based on state expenditures that made them less economically viable over the long term. And so then they had to turn to actual physical territorial expansionism.
Autarky very often turns into a necessity for expanding your access to resources, which leads to invasions of other countries. It is not a coincidence that countries that tend to embrace a strong mercantilist policy, an economic policy that focuses on “Let&#8217;s build everything right here at home,” find that when they can’t, they have to expand their own territorial borders or the places under their immediate dominion.
Free trade generally means that you don&#8217;t have to invade other places because you can trade with those other places.
So, when you look at China, how would you stop China? We need to build up better security and economic relationships in the Far East, and also build up better security and economic relationships with Europe.
That means that we can use tariffs as a way to force the Europeans to get rid of their non-tariff barriers. One of the ways I would be forcing the Europeans to pay their fair share is by using things like tariffs, in order to push the Europeans to pay their fair share. When it comes to, for example, the price of pharmaceuticals, Europe pays far less than what the actual market rate should be for pharmaceuticals, and then the United States ends up paying for that via our taxpayers and via our consumers.
That’s just the way that it works. We should stop that.
There are things that we can do to fight the non-tariff barriers and also the unfairness of our systems with Europe. But in the end, we should be pursuing freer trade and better relationships. 
That’s because if you&#8217;re going to box in China, you need to offer both the carrot and the stick to China, but just carrots to our friends. 
When it comes to offering carrots for our friends, we can offer a little bit of the stick in order to achieve the carrot. That is why I&#8217;m not against using tariffs as a way to pressure other countries to lower their tariffs. This is a case that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has made.
You need to box China in. You need to treat them like the adversary they are.
You need to build out other lines of supply. You need supply chains that are diversified, so we&#8217;re not as reliant on China.
You need to cut off China&#8217;s allies at the knees. If we believe, as we should, that Russia is a geopolitical adversary of the United States, then obviously we should be pursuing an attempt to get Russia to stop invading Eastern Europe.
And that means supporting allies in the region to the extent necessary to stop the Russians, because it&#8217;s not as though Russia and China aren&#8217;t talking to each other. They&#8217;re talking very extensively to each other.
If we are attempting to form a better relationship with India, then we should be attempting to form a better relationship with them. We should be trying to make trade relations with India so beneficial to India that they don&#8217;t want to trade with the Chinese. There are natural differences in opinion between China and India, which have nearly come to blows several times over the course of the last several decades.
India and China are not working hand in glove. They have actual territorial conflicts. We could be attempting to pry India out of China&#8217;s sphere of influence. 
These are all things that a responsible foreign policy would do.
And then we certainly would not be shipping many of the most important components in the battle for the future to China.
China is already stealing our intellectual property. China is already cheating when it comes to trade relationships. China is already badgering its neighbors. Why should we be sending some of our most sophisticated microchips produced in the United States? Why should we be allowing those to flow into China? Even if we&#8217;re going to argue that it&#8217;s only a marginal increase in China&#8217;s capacity, why would we allow that increase in China&#8217;s capacity?
China is our geopolitical enemy. They are our opponent. Trying to pretend otherwise is foolish because if you allow China to continue pursuing its normal policies, China will blow itself out.
China has a serious demographic problem. It does not have enough people. China is in steep demographic decline. Even though they have a billion people, they do not have enough human beings to be able to generate the economic growth necessary to pay for their gigantic redistributionist schemes and mercantilist ideas.
They have an enormous debt problem. They&#8217;ve been burying that debt problem in local and regional debt issues, and then building gigantic empty cities rooted in debt that they&#8217;re taking out from their own citizens and against their own citizens.
We tend to look at the fact that China builds some nice things and say, “Wow, they must be doing it right.”
But the fact is that mercantilism looks systematic when you look at the areas where it succeeds, but looks like a trash heap when you look at the areas where it doesn&#8217;t succeed. The areas where you don&#8217;t succeed in a centralized economy are the areas that tend to be ignored, and there are a lot of them.
Capitalism looks really messy, but it has a much higher hit rate because capital follows the best ideas. You don&#8217;t just keep investing in bad ideas the way you do with a centralized economic system, like China.
There are ways to box in China.
The question is whether the United States will actually do it.

China trade cargo container hanging against clouds background

What Do We Do About China?

Ben Shapiro

China

Economy

Foreign Policy

India

Opinion

Russia

Tariffs

President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion bailout for American farmers on Monday afternoon as many farmers have taken a blow due to the president’s tariffs.
Most of the $12 billion aid package will go toward one-time payments for farmers, especially soybean farmers, whose industry has taken a massive hit from Trump’s steep tariffs on China, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-08/trump-set-to-unveil-12-billion-aid-for-farmers-hit-by-trade-war">reported</a>. Up to $11 billion will be provided to farmers under the Department of Agriculture’s new Farmer Bridge Assistance program. Trump was joined by soybean, corn, cotton, sorghum, rice, cattle, wheat, and potato farmers at the White House for the announcement.
Trump <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1998115240983019905">said</a> that the $12 billion for American farmers will come from the &#8220;hundreds of billions of dollars&#8221; the United States has collected in tariff revenue. The United States has brought in around $260 billion in tariff revenue this year alone.
Trump blasted former President Joe Biden&#8217;s economic policies that he said hurt American farmers, adding that under the Trump administration, farmers would be &#8220;put first.&#8221;
&#8220;Farm bankruptcies under Joe Biden went up 55%. That&#8217;s not good,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;But now we&#8217;re once again in a position where a president is able to put farmers first. Unfortunately, I&#8217;m the only president that does that.&#8221;
Trump’s financial aid will help a farming industry that relies heavily on exports to foreign nations. Around 25% of soybeans grown in the United States are exported to China, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-to-unveil-12-billion-bailout-for-farmers-064eb1de?mod=hp_lead_pos4">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
After Trump rolled out his tariffs on China earlier this year, the communist country completely cut off its imports of American soybeans until it reached a deal with the Trump administration in late October. Soybean, wheat, and corn farmers have already lost an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/us/politics/farmers-aid-trade-war.html#:~:text=Trump%20cares%20about%20farmers%20and,that%20took%20years%20to%20win.">estimated</a> $13 billion due to the president’s trade war, according to a farm group study.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/15/trump-economy-farmers-bailout">hinted</a> at the administration’s farm bailout in early October, calling the plan “clever and generous.” The farm aid rollout was delayed due to the record-long government shutdown that lasted from October 1 to November 12.
After the United States and China struck a deal to lower tariffs, China pledged to purchase 12 million tons of American soybeans by the end of the year. Since the end of October, China has purchased just over two million tons, according to Bloomberg. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday that China is so far complying with its agreement.
“With China, it’s always we verify, and we monitor, and we watch the commitments. The commitments are quite specific,” Greer said during an appearance on “The Sunday Briefing” on Fox News. “So all of these things that we’ve agreed to with the Chinese recently are very concrete, we can monitor them with some ease, and so far, we’re seeing that they’re in compliance.”
Farmers have argued that they need government help to pay off debt and plan for next year’s crops. They make up a large part of Trump’s base and have continued to back the president. In the 2024 election, Trump’s support among farming communities <a href="https://investigatemidwest.org/2024/11/13/trump-election-farming-counties-trade-war/">increased</a> nationwide compared to 2020 and 2016. Trump won 78% of the vote from farming counties in 2024, two points better than he fared in 2020 and five points better than in 2016.
During his first term, the president allocated $28 billion to farmers affected by his administration’s tariffs on China.

Trump Farm Bailout

Trump Provides Billions In Relief To Farmers Impacted By Tariffs

Agriculture

Donald Trump

Executive

Farmers

Politics

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that the Trump administration’s economic strategy is centered on fixing “the three I&#8217;s: immigration, interest rates, and inflation,&#8221; adding that Americans are traumatized by Biden-era inflation.
“One thing we’re not going to do is what the Biden administration did — tell the American people they don’t know how they feel,” Bessent said. “They are traumatized by Biden-era inflation. We’ve slowed it, and we’re working very hard to bring it down.”
Bessent argued that immigration has been a major driver of high housing costs and wage stagnation. With the border closed and deportations underway, he expects home prices to fall and wages to rise. He pointed to October’s strong housing data as evidence, with home sales reaching their highest level in three years.
“The prices get better,” he said. “Energy prices, gasoline are down, we believe health care is going to come down. This will be the lowest cost for a Thanksgiving dinner in four years. Turkey prices are down 16%.”
While inflation ticked up to 3% from its 2.3% low earlier this year, Bessent insisted it remains under control. He noted that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has lowered interest rates by 0.50% this year and have another rate cut on the table for December.
Bessent credited the president’s peace agreements, tax reforms, and new trade deals as key drivers of future affordability. His remarks come days after Vice President JD Vance called on Americans to have “a little bit of patience” with the Trump administration’s economic strategy.
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Recent criticism has focused on rising prices for certain food products. NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Scott Bessent if the administration’s rollback on tariffs proves Trump’s trade policies are raising consumer costs.
Bessent dismissed the argument, saying inflation “is a composite number” with many moving parts, meaning overall inflation can remain stable even as some products fluctuate. He predicted broader price declines once United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer finalizes new agreements in Latin America.
He also pointed to last week’s rollback on tariffs for more than 200 food products as proof that the White House is “pushing down the prices they can control,” rejecting claims that tariffs hurt consumers.
“Some prices will come down in weeks, some in months,” he said.
With major trade deals nearing completion, foreign peace negotiations wrapping up, and the One Big, Beautiful Bill tax reforms in place, Bessent said he is “optimistic for 2026.”

President Trump Signs Executive Order In The Oval Office

Bessent: Trump Admin Targeting ‘Three I’s’ To Restore Affordability

Scott Bessent

Thanksgiving

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump’s sanctions on Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft are biting into Moscow’s ability to fund its war effort, according to a Treasury Department memo.
The Initial Market Reaction report by the Office of Foreign Assets Control found that the sanctions that Trump placed on Russian energy last month are restricting the cash Moscow can dedicate to its war efforts.
“President Trump has targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies in one of the most impactful Treasury actions to date. Russian oil is now selling at multi-year lows, starving Putin’s war machine. President Trump is the peace-and-prosperity President, and Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to end the senseless killing,” a Treasury spokesperson told The Daily Wire.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control&#8217;s initial assessment of the tariffs found that they are having their intended effect by reducing oil revenues to Moscow by “lowering the price of Russian oil and therefore the country’s ability to fund its war effort against Ukraine,” according to a summary of the office’s assessment.
“While there are multiple prices of Russian oil depending on grade and location, various grades are trading well below all other international prices. Moreover, several key Russian grades are selling at multi-year lows, widening their spreads to global benchmarks. This is testament to the fact that demand for Russian oil is plunging, driven by the efficacy of U.S. sanctions,” the summary found.
The Treasury assessment also noted that some of Russia’s biggest customers, namely India and China, have cut back their purchases of Russian energy in the wake of the tariffs
“Nearly a dozen major Indian and Chinese purchasers of Russian oil have announced intentions to pause their purchases of Russian December deliveries,” the Office of Foreign Assets Control found.
The Treasury <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-ramps-up-pressure-on-putin-hits-russian-oil-companies-with-sanctions">leveled</a> the tariffs on the Russian oil giants on October 22.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at the time. “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”

Vladimir Putin

Trump Sanctions On Russian Oil Are ‘Starving Putin’s War Machine’

Ukraine-Russia War

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda was smiling for photos and giving two thumbs up as he donned a red “Make America Great Again” hat and a Trump-Vance shirt during an American-themed NASCAR event in Japan over the weekend.
“I’m not here to argue whether tariffs are good or bad. Every national leader wants to protect their own industry,” Toyoda <a href="https://www.autonews.com/toyota/an-toyota-akio-toyoda-maga-nascar-trump-japan-tariff-1116/">said</a> ahead of the exhibition. “We are exploring ways to make tariffs a winner for everyone. The people we want most to be winners are our customers.”
Japan now has a roughly 15% baseline tariff on auto imports, down from 27.5% following September trade negotiations.
The America-themed celebration at Fuji Speedway featured top NASCAR drivers, fans waving American flags, and an appearance from U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass. The ambassador posted photos of himself at the event alongside the caption, “Start your engines! &#8230; Looking forward to celebrating the culture of motorsports again next year, as part of our [America250] festivities in Japan.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda showed up to a NASCAR event on Sunday repping MAGA gear.
BASED 🔥🔥🔥🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/NnkbuJaNfk">pic.twitter.com/NnkbuJaNfk</a>
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1990855538045792277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The event came days before the carmaker announced on Tuesday a $912 million investment in its U.S. manufacturing operations, aimed at expanding hybrid production in Southern states.
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Per Motor Intelligence <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/18/toyota-hybrid-plants.html">data</a>, Toyota currently has more than 51% market share of hybrid vehicles through the third quarter of this year.
“Customers are embracing Toyota’s hybrid vehicles, and our U.S. manufacturing teams are gearing up to meet that growing demand,” Kevin Voelkel, Toyota Motor North America senior vice president of manufacturing operations, <a href="https://pressroom.toyota.com/toyota-boosts-hybrid-production-with-912-million-investment-creating-252-new-u-s-manufacturing-jobs/">said</a>. “Toyota’s philosophy is to build where we sell, and by adding more American jobs and investing across our U.S. footprint, we continue to stay true to that philosophy.”
Toyota announced last week it will invest as much as $10 billion into the United States over the next five years, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-11-14/toyota-confirms-up-to-10-billion-investment-in-u-s">confirming</a> what President Donald Trump had said in October after meeting with the company’s CEO.

Akio Toyoda

Toyota CEO Goes Full MAGA At NASCAR Event Then Drops $912M On U.S. Jobs

Toyota CEO Rocks MAGA Hat At NASCAR Event, Then Announces Nearly $1B Boost To U.S. Manufacturing

Business

Cars

Japan

MAGA

The United States and Switzerland announced a framework trade agreement on Friday that includes Washington slashing its tariffs on imported Swiss products to 15% from 39% and a pledge by Swiss companies to invest $200 billion in the U.S. by the end of 2028.
The United States and Switzerland, joined by Liechtenstein, aim to conclude negotiations to finalize their trade deal by the first quarter of 2026, the White House said in a statement.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the agreement tears down longstanding trade barriers and opens new markets for American goods. He welcomed &#8220;massive Swiss investment to help reduce our deficit in pharmaceuticals and other key sectors&#8221; that will generate thousands of jobs across the U.S.
At least $67 billion of the $200 billion in pledged Swiss investments in the United States will come in 2026, the White House said in a statement.
The total includes prior U.S. investment commitments including $50 billion from drugmaker Roche and $23 billion from Novartis along with pledges from engineering group ABB railway equipment maker Stadler.
In addition to pharmaceuticals &#8211; Switzerland&#8217;s largest export to the U.S. &#8211; the investments in U.S. production will target medical devices, aerospace and gold manufacturing, the White House said.
&#8220;This agreement puts Switzerland on an equal footing with the European Union and brings the tariff level down from 39% to 15%,&#8221; Swiss Economy Minister Guy Parmelin said in announcing the deal, which affects about 40% of Switzerland&#8217;s exports.
&#8220;Of course, we would prefer (the $200 billion) to be invested in Switzerland,&#8221; Parmelin added. &#8220;And that’s why the Federal Council in parallel is doing everything to see how we can reduce costs for our businesses.&#8221;
The lower tariff rate is likely to be activated within &#8220;days, weeks,&#8221; as soon as the U.S. customs processing systems can be adjusted, said Helene Budliger Artieda, director of Switzerland&#8217;s  State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.
The deal guarantees a 15% tariff ceiling for Swiss pharmaceutical producers, limiting the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s forthcoming Section 232 national security duties for the sector, which could reach 100% on certain patented drugs.
Parmelin said the 15% cap would also apply to other future Section 232 duties, including semiconductors, putting key sectors on the same footing as the EU.
&#8220;The risk of much higher sector-specific tariffs is therefore ruled out,&#8221; Parmelin added.
A Swiss government statement said the tariff agreement will reduce Swiss import duties on U.S. industrial products, fish and seafood and agricultural products &#8220;that Switzerland considers non-sensitive.&#8221;
Switzerland will grant the U.S. duty-free bilateral tariff quotas on 500 tons of beef, 1,000 tons of bison meat and 1,500 tons of poultry meat, the government said.
The White House statement said Switzerland agreed to remove a range of tariffs across agricultural and industrial  sectors including certain fresh and dried nuts, fruits, seafood and chemicals.
The White House also said Switzerland will recognize U.S. motor vehicle safety standards, a step toward addressing Trump&#8217;s frequent complaint that European countries do not buy American-made cars and trucks.
Swiss industrial groups welcomed the deal, saying it would put them on a level playing field with competitors from the European Union, which agreed to a 15% tariff on EU exports to the U.S.
&#8220;For the industrial sector, which was subject to a 39% tariff since August 1, this is good news. For the first time, we have the same conditions in the U.S. market as our European competitors,&#8221; said Nicola Tettamanti, president of Swissmechanic, which represents small and medium-sized manufacturers.
Switzerland&#8217;s machinery, precision instruments, watchmaking, and food sectors, which export to the U.S., would see the most relief, said Hans Gersbach, a director of the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich.
KOF forecasts Swiss economic growth of 0.9% in 2026, but this would exceed 1% with the lower tariff rate, he added.
Switzerland had a $38.3 billion goods trade surplus with the U.S. in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. This rose to $55.7 billion in 2025 through July, reflecting primarily the front-loading of U.S. imports from Switzerland during the first quarter, before Trump imposed his &#8220;reciprocal&#8221; tariffs in early April.
Nadia Gharbi, an economist at Swiss bank Pictet, said the tariff reduction removed the main downside risks for the country&#8217;s economy and represents a clearly positive development for Swiss industries and for the overall growth outlook.
&#8220;Under the previous tariff regime, Switzerland suffered a significant loss of competitiveness — not only because of the strength of the Swiss franc, but also because neighboring European economies were subject to tariffs of only around 15%,&#8221; she said.
Swiss industry on Friday reported a 14% fall in exports to the U.S. during the three months through September, technology industry association Swissmem said, while machine tool makers saw shipments slump 43%.
(Reporting by John Revill in Zurich; Additional reporting by Dave Graham in Zurich, Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva, Miranda Murray in Berlin, and Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey and Andrea Shalal in Washington; Writing by David Lawder and John Revill, Editing by Rod Nickel and Matthew Lewis)

Switzerland Wins Tariff Rate Cut To 15%, Pledges $200 Billion In U.S. Investments

Global Politics

Switzerland

World

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Friday modifying his so-called reciprocal tariffs to specify that certain foods and agricultural products from countries around the world &#8220;will no longer be subject to those tariffs.&#8221;
The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/11/fact-sheet-following-trade-deal-announcements-president-donald-j-trump-modifies-the-scope-of-the-reciprocal-tariffs-with-respect-to-certain-agricultural-products/">announced</a> the move in a fact sheet, which stated that the president is focused on &#8220;strengthening the U.S. economy.&#8221; The tariff rollback will apply to food items that are not grown or produced in the United States in &#8220;sufficient quantities,&#8221; including beef, coffee, tea, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, and tropical fruits and fruit juices, the White House said.
&#8220;Today’s Order follows the significant progress the President has made in securing more reciprocal terms for our bilateral trade relationships,&#8221; the White House fact sheet stated. &#8220;President Trump’s deals have had and will continue to have broad impacts on domestic production and the economy as a whole, including enhanced market access for our agriculture exporters.&#8221;
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bessent-promises-major-food-import-moves-to-cut-grocery-prices-very-quickly?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Bessent+Promises+Major+Food+Import+Moves+To+Cut+Grocery+Prices+%E2%80%98Very+Quickly%E2%80%99">hinted</a> at the move earlier this week, promising that the Trump administration would make some big announcements &#8220;that will bring the prices down very quickly.&#8221; The administration has recently focused its attention on addressing Americans&#8217; economic woes.
President Trump <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/3887760/oval-office-interview-trump-make-things-less-expensive/">told</a> The Washington Examiner in an interview on Friday that working to lower consumer and housing costs remains a central part of his agenda. Trump dismissed Democrats who have recently complained about an &#8220;affordability crisis,&#8221; arguing that the economy has improved since he took office.
“We’re working to make things less expensive,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;We’re cutting some prices very substantially, but what is terrible is the Democrats have catchphrases.&#8221;
“They came up with a soundbite. Affordability. Affordability. Well, what we are doing is making things cost less,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, the White House announced &#8220;breakthrough trade deals&#8221; with Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guatemala that would help lower the prices of some food items. Under those deals, the Trump administration is expected to lower tariffs on some food products, which could lower the cost of items such as coffee and bananas, according to a senior Trump administration official, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-remove-tariffs-some-products-ecuador-argentina-guatemala-el-salvador-2025-11-13/">reported</a>.
Trump&#8217;s executive order marks a major turn in the president&#8217;s trade strategy, but the White House maintains that Trump&#8217;s tariff policies are working for the American people.
&#8220;President Trump’s tariff policies have delivered significant and lasting wins for the American people through fair, tough, and strategic trade negotiations, strengthening the U.S. economy and national security while breaking down unfair trade barriers that have harmed American workers for decades,&#8221; the White House said, adding, &#8220;The Administration will continue to use all available tools to protect our national security, advance our economic interests, and uphold a system of trade based in fairness and reciprocity.&#8221;

Trump Rolls Back Tariffs On Dozens Of Food Imports. Here’s What Will Be Affected.

Food

President Donald Trump secured &#8220;breakthrough trade deals&#8221; with Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guatemala, setting up &#8220;more streamlined market access&#8221; for the United States and its four Western Hemisphere partners, the White House announced on Thursday.
The deals include both economic and national security commitments, which the White House promises will give American companies greater access to the Central and South American markets. Under the deals, the Trump administration is expected to lower tariffs on some food products, which could lower the cost of items such as coffee and bananas, according to a senior Trump administration official, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-remove-tariffs-some-products-ecuador-argentina-guatemala-el-salvador-2025-11-13/">reported</a>. The finalized frameworks for the deals are expected to be completed within the next two weeks.
The White House announced the new trade agreements shortly after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bessent-promises-major-food-import-moves-to-cut-grocery-prices-very-quickly">promised</a> that the administration was seeking to give Americans some relief at the grocery store. Bessent&#8217;s comments were a rare moment of the Trump administration acknowledging that Americans are feeling the sting of Trump&#8217;s tariffs, at least in some circumstances.
&#8220;These deals secure commitments on economic and national security issues to strengthen supply chains and trade partnerships in the region, deepening bilateral trade and investment cooperation to provide American exporters with unprecedented access to markets in Central and South America,&#8221; the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/11/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-announces-historic-trade-deals-with-western-hemisphere-trading-partners/">said</a>. &#8220;The deals will help U.S. farmers, ranchers, fishermen, small businesses, and manufacturers to increase U.S. exports to and expand business opportunities with these trading partners.&#8221;
The deal with Argentina gives U.S. exporters &#8220;preferential market access&#8221; for &#8220;medicines, chemicals, machinery, information technology products, medical devices, motor vehicles, and a wide range of agricultural products.&#8221; Under the agreement, Argentina is expected to exempt beef from its 10% tariff on imports, allowing the U.S. cattle industry to ship beef to the South American country at a more affordable rate, a U.S. official told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/13/white-house-agrees-to-lower-some-tariffs-on-south-american-countries-00651456?cid=apn">POLITICO</a>. President Donald Trump had also considered allowing Argentina to export more beef to the United States, but the agreement does not appear to allow that, after Trump&#8217;s idea faced backlash from Congress and the U.S. cattle industry.
&#8220;Argentina has opened its market to U.S. live cattle, committed to allow market access for U.S. poultry within one year, and agreed not to restrict market access for products that use certain cheese and meat terms,&#8221; the White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/11/joint-statement-on-framework-for-a-united-states-argentina-agreement-on-reciprocal-trade-and-investment/">said</a>.
The Trump administration stated that Ecuador would reduce or eliminate tariffs on tree nuts, fresh fruit, pulses, wheat, wine, and distilled spirits. El Salvador agreed to &#8220;break down non-tariff barriers for U.S. agricultural products in its market, including ensuring that U.S. agricultural exporters will not be restricted due to the mere use of certain cheese and meat terms.&#8221; Guatemala, meanwhile, made commitments on digital trade, including ending discrimination against U.S. products distributed digitally.

Trump Makes ‘Breakthrough Trade Deals’ With 4 Countries To Lower Food Costs

Argentina

Ecuador

El Salvador

Guatemala

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised on Wednesday that relief is coming to Americans at the grocery store, as the Trump administration plans to make &#8220;substantial announcements&#8221; on foreign food imports in the coming days.
During an interview with &#8220;<a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6385001023112">Fox &amp; Friends</a>&#8221; co-host Brian Kilmeade, Bessent predicted that Americans would soon feel much better about their finances and hinted that certain grocery store items would be coming down in price.
&#8220;When you look at affordability now, and you go grocery shopping, for example, what products are you working on bringing down?&#8221; Kilmeade asked. &#8220;We know that certain products are down, certain [products] are up. For example, coffee. The president said, &#8216;I&#8217;m going to lower tariff rates on Brazil and Vietnam and other places to try to bring the price of coffee down.&#8217; What else do you do?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, it&#8217;s tough to do a lot of specific things, but I can tell you that you&#8217;re going to see substantial announcements over the next couple of days in terms of things we don&#8217;t grow here in the United States,&#8221; Bessent replied. &#8220;Coffee being one of them. Bananas, other fruits, things like that. So that will bring the prices down very quickly.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Sec. Scott Bessent: &#8220;You&#8217;re going to see substantial announcements over the next couple of days in terms of things we don&#8217;t grow here&#8230; coffee being one of them, bananas, other fruits&#8230; That will bring the prices down very quickly.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/OlwFniutbk">pic.twitter.com/OlwFniutbk</a>
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1988616150398214379?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bessent&#8217;s comments are a rare moment in which the Trump administration appears to acknowledge that tariffs have negatively affected Americans&#8217; wallets in some circumstances. Last week, President Donald Trump also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-shift-acknowledges-americans-are-paying-something-tariffs-2025-11-06/">admitted</a> that Americans are &#8220;paying something&#8221; due to his tariffs, adding, &#8220;But when you take the overall impact, the Americans are gaining tremendously.&#8221;
The average price of coffee in the United States has spiked in recent months after the Trump administration imposed hefty tariffs on countries around the world, including the leading coffee exporters. In September, the average price for a pound of ground coffee rose 3% from the previous month and jumped 41% from September 2024, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coffee-prices-tariffs-climate-3503a37a8fc95b7dc5a1f29747c81e27">reported</a>. That increase has caused some coffee shops and grocery stores to hike prices. Banana prices have also risen slightly following the rollout of Trump&#8217;s tariffs.
Bessent said that the Trump administration is seeking to fix an &#8220;affordability mess&#8221; that began under former President Joe Biden.
&#8220;It was the worst inflation in 40-50 years, one of the worst in the nation&#8217;s history,&#8221; the Treasury Secretary added.
Bessent said the administration is working to address both affordability components: prices and income. He argued that by the first quarter of next year, Americans will see prices decline while their wages rise.
&#8220;You are going to feel it,&#8221; Bessent said, adding, &#8220;I think 2026 is going to be a blockbuster year.&#8221;
Trump&#8217;s tariffs are currently hanging in the balance as the Supreme Court considers whether the president can use his broad authority over foreign policy to impose tariffs on countries worldwide. Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case, with multiple conservative justices appearing skeptical of the president’s authority.

Scott Bessent/Grocery Store

Bessent Promises Major Food Import Moves To Cut Grocery Prices ‘Very Quickly’

Economics

Food prices

President Donald Trump issued a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115529446165908851">Truth Social post</a> on Monday that centered on a major Supreme Court case that could reshape the limits of presidential power over U.S. trade policy.
President Trump warned that the U.S. Supreme Court “was given the wrong numbers” regarding the economic stakes of the pending tariff case. He stated that if the Court rules against him, the resulting “unwind” of the tariff system — reversing investments, refunds, and related measures — would exceed $3 trillion. He characterized that scenario as an “insurmountable National Security Event,” warning it could devastate the U.S. economy and threaten the country’s sustainability.
Trump’s statement is both an economic and political message, emphasizing that the stakes of the Supreme Court’s decision extend well beyond trade law. He suggests that an unfavorable ruling could require returning massive tariff revenues collected under his administration’s 2025 “reciprocal tariffs,” potentially exceeding $3 trillion when including lost investment and refunds. This would unwind a significant source of federal revenue and destabilize fiscal planning.
Trump is also framing tariffs as essential to protecting U.S. manufacturing and reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. Therefore, reversing them would not only hurt the economy but also compromise U.S. national security. By calling it a “national security event,” Trump connects trade policy to his broader presidential authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), arguing that tariffs are a legitimate tool for addressing threats tied to trade deficits and foreign economic influence.
Trump’s claim that the Supreme Court “was given the wrong numbers” implies he believes the economic consequences have been understated to the justices, a move aimed at shaping public perception and potentially influencing the Court’s understanding of the stakes.
The Supreme Court case, Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc., consolidates challenges to Trump’s use of IEEPA to impose wide-reaching tariffs without explicit congressional approval. The Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit <a href="https://www.swlaw.com/publication/what-if-the-supreme-court-overrules-the-reciprocal-tariffs-plan-now-for-refunds-protests-and-contract-reconciliation/">ruled</a> that the IEEPA does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Lower courts have ruled against Trump, saying that IEEPA does not authorize open-ended tariffs and that such economic measures require a clear congressional delegation. If the justices affirm those rulings, it could force the government to refund hundreds of billions — possibly trillions — in tariff payments, upend trade contracts, and reshape the executive’s emergency powers. On the other hand, if the Court rules in favor of the administration, it will dramatically expand the president&#8217;s authority to set trade policy under emergency declarations.
The federal government <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/trump-warns-supreme-court-tariff-ruling-could-trigger-3t-unwind">collected about $213 billion</a> in tariffs through September 2025, with monthly records of more than $31 billion in late summer.  Some forecasts <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tariff-revenue-fiscal-year-2025-soars-10948543">project</a> around $3 trillion in tariff revenue over a decade. The Congressional Budget Office estimates these tariffs reduce deficits by $2.8 trillion over ten years but slightly dampen GDP and increase inflation by 0.4% by 2027.
According to a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inflation-tariffs-trump-prices-consumers/">study</a> by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, tariffs haven&#8217;t driven up consumer prices as much as some critics have predicted, because businesses want to see where tariff rates settle before they adjust their prices.

President Trump Takes Part In Swearing In Of US Ambassador To India

Trump Sounds Alarm: SCOTUS Tariff Ruling Could Trigger $3 Trillion Economic ‘Unwind’

Courts

Supreme Court

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he wants to pay the majority of Americans $2,000 each from U.S. tariff revenue and use the &#8220;left over&#8221; funds to achieve debt reduction.
Trump argued that there would be enough tariff revenue to send stipends to all Americans — other than high-income earners — and &#8220;to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.&#8221;
&#8220;All money left over from the $2000 payments made to low and middle income USA Citizens, from the massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries, which will be substantial, will be used to SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115526165519672797">wrote</a> on Truth Social.
The national debt recently surpassed <a href="https://www.usdebtclock.org/">$38 trillion</a> and is on pace to hit $44 trillion by 2029. More than four-fifths of Americans would qualify for Trump&#8217;s dividends if his proposal is enacted. As of 2024, 81% of the U.S. population is in the middle- or lower-income classes, according to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2024/05/31/the-state-of-the-american-middle-class/">Gallup</a>.
On Sunday, Trump called anyone who opposes his tariffs &#8220;FOOLS&#8221; and promised to hand out $2,000 dividends to Americans as the U.S. raked in nearly $2 billion in tariff revenue through the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025, according to the <a href="https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/files/reports-statements/mts/mts0925.pdf">Treasury Department</a>.
&#8220;We are now the Richest, Most Respected Country In the World, With Almost No Inflation, and A Record Stock Market Price,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115519726463094783">wrote</a>. &#8220;401k’s are Highest EVER. We are taking in Trillions of Dollars and will soon begin paying down our ENORMOUS DEBT, $37 Trillion. Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone.&#8221;
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told ABC&#8217;s &#8220;This Week&#8221; on Sunday that he had not discussed the $2,000 dividend proposal with the president, adding that it &#8220;could come in lots of forms and lots of ways.&#8221; Trump&#8217;s desire to hand out $2,000 checks to Americans would need Congressional approval. Earlier this year, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced legislation to give Americans $600 tariff rebates, or $2,400 for a family of four. Hawley&#8217;s bill, however, has not gained any traction in the Republican-controlled Senate.
It&#8217;s not the first time Trump has floated the idea of handing out stipends to Americans while also paying down the national debt this term. Earlier this year, Trump suggested that Americans could receive government checks as a result of massive spending cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. In February, SpaceX owner and former Trump adviser Elon Musk <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/02/19/musk-doge-dividend-check">discussed</a> handing out $5,000 dividend checks if his goal of $2 trillion in government spending cuts was met. The proposal would allocate 20% of the DOGE savings to dividend checks and another 20% to the national debt. At the time, Trump <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-dividend-85f3d001d082aebaefd397035b0b86a9">told</a> reporters he supported the plan, but the idea seems to have lost momentum, and Musk later <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/04/28/nx-s1-5377445/doge-musk-trump-100-days">downgraded</a> his spending-cut goal to $150 billion.
Trump&#8217;s promise to hand out tariff revenue to Americans comes at a critical time for his tariff agenda as the Supreme Court weighs whether he has the authority to impose the worldwide tariffs. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Trump&#8217;s tariff case last week, with multiple conservative justices appearing skeptical of the president&#8217;s authority, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-liberation-day-tariffs-face-skepticism-among-some-supreme-court-justices">reported</a>.
The key questions at issue in the case revolve around the meaning of the phrase “regulate importation” in the law, whether a tariff can be considered a tax, and the tension between the president’s broad authority over foreign policy and Congress’s authority over taxation.  A ruling against Trump&#8217;s tariff authority would effectively stop his most important economic and foreign policy agenda in its tracks.
In another post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump pushed back against some of the arguments against his tariffs and argued that the president must be allowed to impose tariffs on foreign countries for national security.
&#8220;So, let’s get this straight??? The President of the United States is allowed (and fully approved by Congress!) to stop ALL TRADE with a Foreign Country (Which is far more onerous than a Tariff!), and LICENSE a Foreign Country, but is not allowed to put a simple Tariff on a Foreign Country, even for purposes of NATIONAL SECURITY,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115519951705472870">said</a>. &#8220;That is NOT what our great Founders had in mind! The whole thing is ridiculous! Other Countries can Tariff us, but we can’t Tariff them??? It is their DREAM!!! Businesses are pouring into the USA ONLY BECAUSE OF TARIFFS. HAS THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT NOT BEEN TOLD THIS??? WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???&#8221;

Trump Wants To Use Tariff Revenue For $2K Payouts, Leftovers To Pay Down National Debt

Americans

There are some lessons that must be learned by Republicans from the elections this week. 
Republicans did quite poorly across the board. There&#8217;s a point Matthew Continetti of The Wall Street Journal made. He <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trumps-gop-is-losing-independents-d87b0110?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqeFdRQ_g38TJV0G2OKCWsyv2tgz8k1Fr9UDABIIONWBHzy2WdkvBiX33wOqwRA%3D&amp;gaa_ts=690e63b3&amp;gaa_sig=cNTYsP1fZFO_BxjK-DQqb69SuibyrCc8gefsLXn2XM_VkLX4DO1fhLbTkwJEefzCwe2Rzs4Snn3cTaYawFxvBQ%3D%3D">wrote</a>: 
<blockquote>The off-year Democratic wave flooded Republican safe harbors. Democrats flipped at least 13 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates. They plan to use their governing trifecta—control of the governor’s mansion and both legislative chambers—to redraw the state’s congressional map in their favor. New Jersey Democrats will enjoy their largest Assembly majority in 52 years. And Georgia Democrats won two seats on the Public Service Commission, the state’s utility board. No Democrat has served on it since 2007.</blockquote>
That was 18 years ago. 
When you look at the 2026 election and the importance of Republicans retaining the House and the Senate, it looks as if Republicans are in a fairly decent position to retain the Senate. In order for Democrats to take the Senate in the next election cycle, they would have to flip a rather unlikely seat, e.g., Iowa. 
But in the House, where Republicans basically have zero margin at this point, Democrats do not need to flip very many seats in order to take over. According to the <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Cook Political Report</a>, of the 16 toss-up seats, 10 are held by Republicans. When you look at another eight that lean Republican and 10 that lean Democrat, you&#8217;re talking about a total possible variance of 34 seats. 
Republicans would have to do really, really poorly to lose all of those. But they don&#8217;t have to lose many of those to lose control of the House. And if they lose control of the House, all you&#8217;re going to get all day long are hearings and investigations and impeachment. 
We know all of this to be the case, and we also know it wouldn&#8217;t be solely due to anything that President Trump is doing. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/bss-ep-2313-member-exclusive?elementPosition=1&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Midterm elections, since World War II, have almost always gone in the direction of the party that is out of power, according to <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-warning-sign-2026-house-poll-11001168">Newsweek</a>. The president&#8217;s party has lost an average of 26 House seats and three to four Senate seats in midterms. When the president&#8217;s approval rating is below 50%, the losses tend to be more severe. Presidents with a 50% job approval have seen their parties lose an average of 37 House seats, as opposed to when the president is popular, where they lose about 14 seats on average.
Republican enthusiasm seems not to be nearly as high as when President Trump was on the ballot, and a sinking economy, or at least an economy that doesn&#8217;t feel as though it is soaring, is having a significant downstream impact.
There are audiences President Trump brought in who are beginning to move against him. One of those is Latino audiences, who went very heavily toward President Trump in the last election cycle, but seem to be bleeding away in New Jersey and in Virginia.
That&#8217;s not because Democrats are doing an extraordinary job. It&#8217;s because there has been so much focus on the immigration crackdowns. It&#8217;s one thing to shut the border. It&#8217;s another thing if there&#8217;s stuff all over your TV about your abuela being taken out and then deported.
I do think that all of that media coverage has been terrible, overblown, and inaccurate. Obviously, it&#8217;s not redounding to the benefit of Republicans among Latinos.
But with all that said, the real issue here is the economy. We all know it. Every exit poll from this week, every single one, said the economy was the number one issue.
Our economy is on some shaky footing, not only because of the continued government shutdown — which will end at some point — but because of a generalized feeling that the economic growth that we are currently seeing is not a broad-based economic growth.
When we are looking at the stock market, for example, the vast majority of stock market gains have accrued to the top seven companies in the market, all of which seem to be focused on tech and AI industries, where jobs are being created, but not industries where the vast majority of people are holding jobs.
The tech industry is really important, but if it&#8217;s the entirety of your economic growth, you&#8217;ve got a bit of a problem. The reason that is happening is because investors don&#8217;t know where to put their money. That is due to tariffs, bizarre regulations, and a generalized feeling of too much government involvement in private industry.
The more the government is involved in the economy, the more investors are likely to try and discern where the government’s hand is likely to come down next and then place their money there.
And that is a major problem.
This is something that Republicans should be considering as they head into the next year.
Employers are apparently not adding many jobs, but they&#8217;ve avoided resorting to widespread layoffs. Everyone is holding steady, which is why it feels as though the economy is on the edge. Polls are showing that people are deeply worried about the state of the economy. 
This week, there&#8217;s been a relatively significant decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. One of the reasons is nobody knows where to put their money. They don&#8217;t know how to invest in industries.
Typically, if you&#8217;re going to buy a stock, you&#8217;re supposed to buy a piece of a company that you like because you think it&#8217;s a good company and it is likely to succeed in the foreseeable future.
But that is not the way a lot of people are treating the stock market right now. They&#8217;re treating it the way they&#8217;re treating crypto. If you&#8217;re going to buy crypto, you should buy crypto as a hedge against inflation, for example, which is why I own some Bitcoin and some Ethereum, but nothing else. If you&#8217;re treating crypto as a get-rich-quick scheme, if you&#8217;re treating the stock market as a way of making a quick buck, that is not a solid way to treat your stock.
But that is how people are treating things right now, because people are looking around and things are more expensive. All of the inflationary money blown in during the last days of the Trump administration and the entirety of the Biden administration is still in people&#8217;s pockets. They don&#8217;t know what to do with it. 
Now, the Federal Reserve is lowering those interest rates again in an attempt to create more liquidity, which, again, I&#8217;ve always found is strange. We do not have a dearth of liquidity in the United States right now. We don&#8217;t have a dearth of opportunities for where to put the liquidity; nobody knows what to do next. It feels as if the market is doing fine, but it&#8217;s also paralyzed. 
And that&#8217;s the problem.
The real issue with the market right now is that the middle bulk of the market is not being invested in. One of the reasons that it&#8217;s not being invested in is that there are hungry speculators with too much cash in their pockets, thanks to the free rein of money for a very long time.
But also, there&#8217;s tremendous uncertainty if you&#8217;re in a service industry or manufacturing industry about the tariffs, and that does make a gigantic difference. There&#8217;s no question that people are confused and discombobulated by the day-to-day action of the administration. As I&#8217;ve been saying for literally the entirety of the Trump administration, if the administration pursued lower taxes, lower regulation, and free trade agreements with everybody around China, the economy would be in better shape.
The line for Democrats going forward is going to be if the economy collapses. If the economy goes down, it&#8217;s an existential danger to the Republican Party, which writ large, means an existential danger to the country, because the next step by a lot of people is going to be swiveling over and saying, we need more government. We need more centralized power. 
Ironically, one of the things that could help the Trump presidency is if the Supreme Court strikes down the tariffs, because then the economy will soar because a lot of investors who&#8217;ve been sitting on the sidelines will suddenly feel secure that their inputs are not going to be increased, jacked up randomly by 30, 40, 50%, depending on where they&#8217;re getting their products from. They&#8217;re not going to fear as much that export markets are going to disappear.
I understand that his tariff policy is very near and dear to the president&#8217;s heart. I get it. I understand his feeling that we have been screwed in past trade negotiations. I don&#8217;t even disagree with that. But the answer to that is to negotiate better deals with countries, not to put blanket tariffs on allies we need.
And President Trump understands better than anyone how central the success of the economy is.

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