Trump could play the tariff Scrooge this holiday season
For years, Donald Trump and right-wing pundits warned us about the War on Christmas. We should have listened. Yes, they were mistaken about who would wage the assault. The antiyuletide antagonist turns out to be neither Starbucks nor gay people nor the Obamas nor even the villainous American Civil Liberties Union. In truth, Scrooge is Trump himself.
‘Tis the quarter before holiday shopping season, and the president just announced tariffs on another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, in addition to the $50 billion in products he imposed duties on over the summer.
The new tariffs could jack up prices on all sorts of standard Christmas purchases, including televisions, computers, mittens and knit hats. “Articles of apparel, of reptile leather” made the list, which could severely crimp the style of a certain former campaign chairman.
More to the point, Trump’s tariffs could make Black Friday truly bleak.
That’s true for the consumers whose wages are barely keeping up with inflation, and who don’t have the spare change lying around to cover a 10- or 25 percent price hike if Trump’s tariffs get tacked on the cost of presents they plan to stash under the tree.
But it’s also true for U.S. companies, including major American success stories such as Apple. The consumer products giant counts on holiday retail sales for about a third of its annual revenue. It has already warned investors that its watch, wireless headphones and Mac mini computer, among other products, might take a hit.
Trump’s initial bah-humbug response was to suggest that Apple just start manufacturing all its products in the United States. Besides the impracticality of building, say, a $1 billion chip-fab plant in time for the holiday rush, this lazy response misses the big reasons firms have moved manufacturing abroad unrelated to tariffs: complicated economic factors including labor costs, matters of scale and global supply chains.
Facing a backlash, Trump checked his tariff list twice, so to speak, and removed a few categories that would cover some affected Apple products, such as smartwatches. But Apple fanboys shouldn’t sleep snug in their beds just yet.
Trump has mused that his trade war may still be several sizes too small, like the original Grinch’s heart. As part of his airing of grievances, he’s threatening to slap import taxes on all $500 billion worth of stuff we currently purchase from China.
To give you a sense of the range of products involved here, consider the presents that Dr. Seuss’ Grinch swiped from Whoville: “Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums! Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!”
As expected, China has threatened to retaliate. But because we buy more from China than it buys from us, it will soon run out of U.S.-made products to strike with symmetric tit-for-tat tariffs.
Beijing has other means of fighting back, however. One way, according to the Wall Street Journal, might be by “restricting China’s sales of materials, equipment and other parts key to U.S. manufacturers’ supply chains.”
In other words, without being asked, Trump has been selflessly meting out China’s proposed punishment for the United States — even though both countries will end up worse off as a result. Perhaps Trump is merely trying to teach American consumers the True Meaning of the holiday season: that, as the Grinch himself learned, Christmas doesn’t come from a store; it’s about generosity, loving thy neighbor, peace on earth and goodwill toward men.
Oh, who am I kidding? President “No Immigrants from S---e Countries” hardly seems like a credible messenger for that.
Whatever comes of Trump’s trade war in the months ahead, rest assured we’ll all still get at least one Christmas present this year: loads and loads of coal. All American-made, of course.