Wednesday, March 5th, 2025
Bill Bonner, writing from Baltimore, Maryland
‘All government spending is taxation.’
-Elon Musk
Elon is right about that. Every penny spent by the feds must come from ‘The People’ via some form of taxation. One of them is in the news today. Tariffs. Yesterday, the Trump team put in place new tariffs against China, Mexico and Canada.
And last night, Trump promised an even more aggressive barrage: reciprocal tariffs. Other nations punish their own citizens by denying them quality imports at competitive prices; now, we’ll do it too!
Warren Buffett, as interpreted by Investment Insider:
Tariffs are "an act of war, to some degree," Warren Buffett said. The Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO told CBS, "Over time, they are a tax on goods."
And now, the trade war has begun. Newsweek:
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said on Monday that he would block energy exports to the United States "with a smile" if U.S. President Donald Trump moved ahead with plans for a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods.
The U.S. imposed tariffs of 25 percent of Canadian goods—except for energy products, which face a 10 percent tariff. It also put a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and an additional 10 percent on Chinese goods.
According to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Canada is by some margin the largest source of American energy imports, with 59 percent of all crude oil imported into the U.S. in 2019 coming from the country.
Associated Press:
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that Mexico will respond to 25% tariffs imposed by the United States with its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. Sheinbaum said she will announce the products Mexico will target on Sunday in a public event in Mexico City’s central plaza, perhaps indicating Mexico still hopes to de-escalate the trade war set off by U.S. President Donald Trump.
https://www.bonnerprivateresearch.com/p/big-man-politics?