If you want a salad, take out a loan
Trump's tariffs are about to rob you blind
Get ready to pay $20 for a head of lettuce and $100 for that oil change you’ll curse yourself for holding out on.
Over the weekend, Donald Trump dumped 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico — the two largest U.S. trading partners — and a 10 percent tariff on China. Canada and Mexico have responded in kind (with Canada twisting the dagger by targeting products grown and produced in red states) and there’s no doubt China will do the same.
For a guy who ran on kitchen table issues (when he wasn’t running on lies and fear) like the price of food, Trump seems in a hurry to smash that table into splinters. It is, shall we say, stupid. With the cost of eggs already at an all-time high because he refuses to even recognize bird flu, Trump tariffs will torch Americans with each step they take, all day, every day, but particularly in the produce section of their local grocer.
Mexico is the U.S.’s single largest provider of fruits and veggies. Lettuce, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, snap beans, tomatoes, avocados, carrots, garlic, leeks and shallots will see dramatic price increases. Combine this with Trump’s mass deportations, particularly those in the agriculture industry, and soon you’ll need to take out a loan to eat a side salad.
Other areas of the agriculture industry will also be hit severely, as the chart below from Iowa Democratic Representative JD Sholten clearly shows. Even before the tariffs were imposed, farmers across the country were backing out of land leases, and agriculture banks stopped issuing loans because of concerns about tariffs specifically and trade in general. And don’t think for a nanosecond that the coup currently underway by Elon Musk won’t try to end the more than $15.5 billion spent annually on farm subsidies. Eating and farming are quickly becoming luxuries only the very rich can afford, and who’s to say that isn’t the point?
While Americans will literally feel the first squeeze at the dinner table, there are plenty of other places we’ll feel it, too. Most of the wood used in home construction comes from Canada, so not only did home prices just get jacked when people could least afford it, but so did the rebuilding of Southern California.
Anyone who drives a car will feel it, too. In addition to the spike in materials for essential maintenance parts (most of which are imported from either Canada or Mexico because of NAFTA), the cost of a new car will rise by a minimum of $3,000.
In an op-ed on Friday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board called this “The Dumbest Trade War In History.” They’ve gone woke, and they’ve wholly undersold it. George Lewis really hit the target: “America is harmless as an enemy, but treacherous as a friend.”
No Shit.
Lo siento mi amigos y amigas. Sorey Canada.