So today is Liberation Day, as Trump calls it. The Terrible Day of the Tariff. No PDF links to articles about this because it’s happening in real time and most publications are either just announcing the tariffs or they’re doing minute by minute updates I won’t keep up with because when do I stop and post this? I’ll have to add some stuff later if it’s pertinent.
Trump’s tariffed the fuck out of pretty much everybody in the most idiotic way possible: he’s looked at the percentage trade deficit with any given nation, halved that percentage, and announced that’s a new tariff. For countries like Canada, China, Mexico, this is on top of other tariffs already levied.
This is not an intelligent way to add tariffs. Not that they’re too smart to begin with. For instance, he tariffed the Indian Ocean and Associated Territories (or whatever it’s called). The only thing there that’s inhabited and has contact with the outside world (the Andaman Island natives, for instance, do not have contact) is Diego Garcia Island. Home to a joint US/UK military base.
We tariffed our own fucking military base, because Trump and his cabinet are fundamentally unserious people.
It is hard to overstate how much this is gonna fuck the average consumer in the USA. Certain businesses – board games, for instance – may be rendered entirely unable to make a profit for the forseeable future, for instance; one designer estimated their board game would have to sell for $225 to make the same profit as before, due to being printed in China.
The Senate Democrats managed to convince four republicans – Collins, Murkowski, Paul, and McConnell – to break with their party and vote to repeal Trump’s emergency powers to levy tariffs. It’ll still need to be voted on in the House, so good luck there. Democrats are going to try to force a vote, but if they can’t, we likely won’t see an end to this bullshit before 2026.
Why? Well, on March 17 or 18, the House Republicans decided to have a vote to say a “calendar day” is not a real day that passes for purposes of expiring Trump’s “national emergencies” that grant him tariff power. They did this explicitly, by their own admission, to prevent such a vote.
Good job, jackasses.
In better news, Musk failed to get Schimel elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, despite his $20 million in donations to sway voting. Good job, Wisconsin!