Tariffs & Trade
1987
1987-01-01 Regan warned about the dangers of tariffs.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIAJLh9xmp-/?hl=en
2018
2018-03-01 Trump imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum from China.
https://www.reuters.com/graphics/TRUMP-TARIFFS/STEEL/gdpznwgdzpw/
https://www.cfr.org/article/trumps-new-aluminum-and-steel-tariffs-explained-six-charts
2018-04-01 The U.S. entered a trade war with China.
2025 March
2025-03-06 Trump proposed linking a Ukraine minerals deal with a ceasefire to secure American access to Ukraine’s natural resources.
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/30/nx-s1-5382384/ukraine-us-minerals-deal
https://www.csis.org/analysis/breaking-down-us-ukraine-minerals-deal
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/01/world/what-we-know-about-trumps-ukraine-mineral-deal-intl
2025-03-11 A journalist asked, “Have you ever paid a tariff? Because I have. They don’t get charged on foreign companies. They get charged on the importers”. Karoline Leavitt responded, “and ultimately, when we have fair and balanced trade, which the American people have not seen in decades, as I said at the beginning, revenues will stay here, wages will go up, and our country will be made wealthy again. And I think it’s insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of economics and the decisions that this president has made. I now regret giving a question to the Associated Press”.
TIMESTAMP 29:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iBnfLloO5Q&list=WL&index=2&t=862s
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5188744-ap-reporter-white-house-tariffs’
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ever-paid-tariff-reporters-press-172121176.html
CAPITULATING FOX ARTICLE https://www.foxnews.com/media/karoline-leavitt-shuts-down-ap-reporter-after-insulting-question-tariffs
2025 April
2025-04-02 The White House imposed tariffs on uninhabited islands. The Commerce Secretary claimed it was on purpose to tackle any loopholes.
2025 July
2025-07-30 Trump imposed an additional 40% tariff on Brazilian imports after the arrest of Jair Bolsonaro.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/addressing-threats-to-the-us/
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trump-tariffs-put-bolsonaro-brazilian-right-bind-2025-07-15/
2025 August
2025-08-01 Trump’s trade war caused the manufacturing sector to lose 42,000 jobs between April 2025 through August 2025.
2025-08-23 European postal services have suspended shipments to the US.
https://apnews.com/article/us-tariffs-goods-services-suspension-85c7b36b9e92c0e640dfe2ac418cd907
https://globaltradealert.org/reports/Global-Suspensions-Parcel-Shipments-US
2025-08-25 The Congressional Budget Office released a projected tariff revenue of $3.3T (trillion) but did not explain how that would weigh against the proposed $3.4T (trillion) budget increase proposed by the Trump administration.
https://apnews.com/article/cbo-trump-tax-bill-republicans-senate-5f591bea21bd95eec45ba90c93c50687
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/tariffs-are-generating-meaningful-new-revenue
2025-08-29 The U.S. ended exemptions on small cost exports.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-ends-tariff-exemption-all-low-value-packages-2025-07-30
https://apnews.com/article/de-minimis-exemption-end-date-dutyfree-48862fc5b6a563a077284e364fb14f08
2025-08-29 The federal appeals court ruled that Trump’s tariffs were an overreach.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy983g8jr5do
2025 September
2025-09-18 Senator Elizabeth Warren sparred with Sara Eisen about tariff policies and explained to her how making a deal to exclude some companies’ items from tariffs is “greasing palms”.
2025 October
2025-10-24 After bailing Argentina out with $40M, Trump announced the U.S. would be buying their beef too.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/12/economy/argentina-america-bailout-currency
2025-10-24 Trump refused trade talks with Canada because of an ad campaign out of Ontario featuring a 1987 video of Ronald Regan warning that tariffs are dangerous.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/nx-s1-5584890/trump-trade-talks-canada
https://thehill.com/policy/international/5584667-carney-trump-canada-tariff-ad-apology/
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5571676-trump-ends-canada-trade-talks/
2025-10-30 Trump discussed trade deals in China with Xi Jinping, lowering tariff rates to 47% and establishing that China will buy 25M metric tons of soybeans annually over the next 3 years.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/30/trump-xi-south-korea-rare-earth-tariff-trade-war-nvidia.html
2025 November
2025-11-20 The administration expanded offshore oil and gas sales.
https://www.heritage.org/energy/commentary/new-wave-american-offshore-energy
2025 December
2025-12-14 Trump announced a $12B bailout for farmers using tariff revenue.
2026 February
2026-02-19 JP Morgan reported that mid-size companies were hit the hardest from tariffs and that manufacturing jobs were not actually coming back to the U.S. like Trump promised.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tariff-costs-triple-midsized-us-050100454.html
2026-02-20 After the Supreme Court struck down his tariffs in a 6–3 ruling, Trump criticized the Court as disloyal to the Constitution and unpatriotic. The following day, he raised global tariffs to 15% in retaliation.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1287_4gcj.pdf
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-raises-global-tariff-15-percent
2026-02-27 Trump administration officials devised legal strategies to pocket illegal tariffs despite a Supreme Court ruling.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/26/trumps-next-tariff-fight-keeping-the-money-00799774
2026 March
2026-03-10 The war in Iran affected global fertilizer trade and global helium supplies.
https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/03/fertilizer-iran-hormuz-food-crisis
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/20/iran-war-us-farming-impact
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/assessing-iran-wars-impact-global-fertilizer-supplies
https://www.ifpri.org/blog/the-iran-war-potential-food-security-impacts
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/15/nx-s1-5747927/the-war-in-iran-is-impacting-earths-supply-of-helium
2026-03-19 Scott Bessent said the US may lift sanctions on Iranian oil.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5791639-bessent-oil-sanctions-lift-iran-conflict/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9d415g55nno
2026-03-19 The Iran war impacted food packaging, resin, aluminum and the polymer market.
https://www.plasticstoday.com/resin-pricing/iran-war-creates-a-dire-strait-for-resin-pricing
2026-03-26 Wall Street suffered its worst day since the start of the Corona Virus pandemic. The price of crude oil topped $110 a barrel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGFkuH7GRX8&list=WL&index=1&t=388s
https://fortune.com/2026/03/18/oil-prices-110-crude-brent-iran-war-israel-strait-hormuz-lng/
2026-03-26 Ukrainian drones struck ports and refineries along the Baltic sea, halting at least 40% of Russian oil export capacity. Zelenskyy reported that the U.S. was making any security guarantees for Ukraine contingent upon Ukraine giving up its defense of the Eastern Donbas region.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGFkuH7GRX8&list=WL&index=1&t=388s
2026 April
2026-04-13 UN’s Chief Economist Maximo Torero warned of a global food crisis because of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwgxQMSZzbA&list=WL&index=1&t=2s
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167289
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-892976
2026-04-17 The worlds 100 top oil and gas companies banked $30M per hour during the first month of the Israeli-Iran war.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/15/big-oil-huge-war-windfall-consumers
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/unearned-profit-is-an-interesting-idea-no
2026-04-18 Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again, saying the U.S. violated agreements by continuing to blockade Iranian ports.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHk4qj-lRlo&list=WL&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYZAszfqfRw&list=WL&index=1&t=7s
2026-04-19 Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said economic ties with the U.S. are a weakness that must be corrected, “We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner…we can’t control the disruption coming from our neighbors”.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-trump-trade-u-s-negotiations-weaknesses-9.7169671
https://www.dw.com/en/canadas-us-ties-have-become-a-weakness-says-carney/a-76852129
2026-04-19 After the Supreme Court said Trump’s tariffs were illegal, the administration announced the kick-off of a $166B tariff refund for businesses and importers only, for which they can submit a claim for online. Consumers will not be receiving a refund.
https://apnews.com/article/tariff-refund-trump-customs-08861f153801156d213c30c4e2f6a683
https://www.axios.com/2026/04/20/trump-tariffs-us-business-refunds-customs-ace-portal
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/economy/tariff-refund-process-kicks-off
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-blow-trump-admin-launches-166b-tariff-refund-portal
2026-04-28 The UAE departed from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries).
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/uae-says-it-quits-opec-opec-statement-2026-04-28/
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/04/29/uae-opec-exit-oil-iran-war.html
2026-04-30 The U.S. debt was larger than its GDP.
2018 PROJECTION https://www.cato.org/blog/us-only-country-projected-rising-government-debt-gdp-ratio-through-2023
SUB WALL https://fortune.com/2026/04/30/national-debt-larger-than-economy-gdp-ratio-100-percent/
2026 May
2026-05-03 Small businesses received rejections for their tariff refund claims.
https://www.npr.org/2026/05/03/nx-s1-5805045/tariff-refunds-small-business
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/24/nx-s1-5723862/trump-tariffs-refunds-small-business
2026-05-09 The U.S. obligated millions of dollars in soybean, corn and vegetable oil trade from Argentina.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WObLO2hXP44&list=WL&index=3
2026-05-12 Trump said, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation – I don’t think about anybody”. Two days later JD Vance denied Trump ever said this. https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-americans-financial-situation-iran-negotiations/story?id=132891356
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/12/world/live-news/trump-iran-war-news
https://newrepublic.com/post/210395/jd-vance-donald-trump-never-said-care-even-little-bit-americans
2026-05-13 Trump met with President Xi Jinping in China to discuss trade and arms sales.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-xi-china-trip-arrival-353c768987542843e2033aa684266879
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-at-stake-as-trump-heads-to-china-for-talks-with-xi
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/13/politics/live-news/trump-china-visit-arrival-ceremony-hnk
2026-05-13 The fertilizer shortage hit home for farmers in Michigan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXrXwuyAq8&list=WL&index=2
2026-05-31 The aluminum market was caught in between tariffs and the elective Iranian war and faced a supply risk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPQx0WrVDSE&list=WL&index=5
2026 June
2026-06-25 A billion-dollar port in South Carolina was shut down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SctVQ5VkHwM&list=WL&index=3
2026 July
2026-07-02 Trump declined to renew the USMCA trade deal with Mexico and Canada.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/01/trump-usmca-canada-mexico-trade-treaty.html
https://abcnews.com/Politics/us-renew-trade-deal-mexico-canada-trump-struck/story?id=134390633
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5949845-trump-administration-usmca-renewal/
2026-07-13 The USDA provided an inaccurate report overreporting beef sales by 90%. After they were caught, they reissued a new report, blaming the original report numbers on staffing shortages.
https://jcpost.com/posts/c5a1a926-4a4f-447a-9738-c27c48318449
2026-07-13 Trump claimed the US would be guardian over the Strait of Hormuz and change a 20% fee for cargo shipped through.
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/us-iran-war-trump-ceasefire-attacks-strait-of-hormuz/
SUB WALL https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/13/donald-trump-strait-of-hormuz-fee-00994508
2026-07-24 The Trump administration imposed more emergency tariffs despite a SCOTUS ruling striking down earlier emergency power tariffs.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/the-remaining-questions-after-the-supreme-courts-tariffs-ruling/