US Tariffs, Sigh!

[Geneva Olson]

I do semi lettering for an Armenian guys transport business. He had nice clothes, nice cars, it appeared he was doing quite well. Then I see in the newspaper that Habitat for Humanity built him a house. WHAT? No wonder he's doing well, he got a free house. In all fairness, he always paid his bill and never squabbled about it. His two gypsy uncles - another story. Both got kicked out of my shop, one by another customer for harassing me into giving them free vinyl.

years ago my ex husband and I worked on a habitat for humanity project. The recipient has to do some sweat equity. But I don't know if that is still the case. There are many who definitely abuse the system.

 

[Boudica]

Habitat for Humanity homes are certainly not a free handout. The homeowners have to buy them through mortgage payments like everyone else. The programme just helps families get into affordable housing. They have to make a small down payment, and then pay the mortgage, taxes and everything else that comes with home ownership. The cost they have to pay back is the cost of building the house.

 

[RabidOne]

Ikaruasu - where do all the teenagers work in Canada? Being a mom of a 20/24 yr olds, many of their friends never worked, mommy's just paid for everything. Both my boys who are white worked for a landscaper and still bay hay and do farm work for their grandparents. The reason their white friends never did the work is because their parents never made them. Back when I was a teen most of my friends worked at Hardees or Burger King with one friend working at a gas station. Even the rich kids back then had some kind of job.

I don't care what anyone says, I think most of the teenagers these days WON'T or don't HAVE to work - I saw it with my own eyes! And that's a Gen X parenting issue.

Interesting as that hasn't been my experience. Seemed like all my sons friends and our friends kids were working hard as teenagers. My son got his first job at the local fair for the summer. They hire boatloads of kids every year, no experience required. He then went on to work at a local chain bakery where the owner just hired students for their counter staff. She was super accommodating for everyone, my son just gave her his schedule every semester and she worked around all the kids availability. My son was offered a job at McDonalds but they weren't flexible with their hours.
All these kids worked at local retail, restaurants, & gas stations.
Ikaruasu is right though, many of the larger corporate chain places use and abuse the Temporary Foreign Worker program to keep wages down. I'm looking at you Tim Hortons.

 

[guillermo]

We are making money on the tariffs now. It looks like inflation rate has slowed down in July.
It sounds like the reason why youre only keeping material you need would be because your business has slowed down. NOT because the prices have increased so much. I still buy my full rolls of 30inch oracal white, red and black.
I went back in my order history on fellers and looked at prices of Oracal 651 30" by the roll. in 2021, I paid $149.50 for a 50 yard roll. In 2022 I paid $158.00 for a 50 yard roll and in 2024 I paid $168.00. Those are pretty evenly distributed price increases.

the full 50yds roll of material here is at $158, but we decided to only buy what is needed, not because we slowed down, I work for the University, but still have to save money, i should have bee more clear, about the material, but.... you said, "we are making money in the tariffs", who are we? Definitely our shop is not making money, are you?, and as I responded to my coworker, who is paying for those tariffs?
Starting today, Brazil will pay now 50%, that means that if something cost $100, now it will be about $175, because WE now pay for those tariffs, and of course the profit for the importers.
But seems that nobody understand who at the end is paying for those tariffs.

 

[Geneva Olson]

Interesting as that hasn't been my experience. Seemed like all my sons friends and our friends kids were working hard as teenagers. My son got his first job at the local fair for the summer. They hire boatloads of kids every year, no experience required. He then went on to work at a local chain bakery where the owner just hired students for their counter staff. She was super accommodating for everyone, my son just gave her his schedule every semester and she worked around all the kids availability. My son was offered a job at McDonalds but they weren't flexible with their hours.
All these kids worked at local retail, restaurants, & gas stations.
Ikaruasu is right though, many of the larger corporate chain places use and abuse the Temporary Foreign Worker program to keep wages down. I'm looking at you Tim Hortons.

Ikarasu being right about the abuse of the temporary foreign worker program was never in question.

However, I was thinking about the issue in general. Someone mentioned the great replacement theory. I'm GenX and I remember at 16 we couldn't wait to get jobs. When I was 9 my parents bought an office supply in our small town. Mom hired me and I didn't really think much about it. I worked for them and was kind of lazy. But by the time I hit 16, I was ready to go out and get a job. Work ethic was something our parents kind of enforced. They expected it. Something happened though to our society. When I was a kid, my dad was a roofer. He also worked for a major oil refinery. When he was off on "long change" (switching from nights to days), he would roof houses. He loved having extra cash in his pocket. He made a lot of money being a blue collar plant operator and roofing houses in his spare time. In between him raising me and me having my own children, there was this generation..that showed up...the millenials and then the gen y?? those parents (with the help of the public education system) ended up coddling or doing something to the kids. I don't mean it was bad, but the work ethic changed. EXCEPT that, these kids go cry in the bathroom if you hurt their feelings. THis is SO ridiculously crazy to me. So I can understand why these illegals come in and "take" the jobs away from the teens.
This is problem that society placed on these kids by telling them they must go to college. When I went to college, it was HARD. But my youngest graduated college in 3 years and is working on her masters. She hasn't held many jobs and they've all been fairly easy jobs. When I worked in high school I was delivering pizzas. Imagine a 16 year old delivering pizzas these days.
I don't believe it's parents fault. I believe its conditioning from schools to push college. But not everyone is cut out for college.

 

[Geneva Olson]

the full 50yds roll of material here is at $158, but we decided to only buy what is needed, not because we slowed down, I work for the University, but still have to save money, i should have bee more clear, about the material, but.... you said, "we are making money in the tariffs", who are we? Definitely our shop is not making money, are you?, and as I responded to my coworker, who is paying for those tariffs?
Starting today, Brazil will pay now 50%, that means that if something cost $100, now it will be about $175, because WE now pay for those tariffs, and of course the profit for the importers.
But seems that nobody understand who at the end is paying for those tariffs.

the COUNTRY has a surplus from tariffs. Apparently you aren't understanding how tariffs work. Jaime Diamond just came out and said he didn't believe the tariffs would work and he was wrong. Sir, the hold up now is jerome powell. he's holding interest rates because he doesn't see enough success in the tariffs even though the bottom line proves our inflation has slowed. and it slowed yet again in July.

**edit** the reciprocal tariffs appear to be taking care of this lopsided tariffs that we had with other countries. if you google brazils tariffs you can see why it was done. A lot of these tariff negotiations are leverages to get governments to work with us. so coffee from brazil goes up. get it elsewhere

 

[guillermo]

the COUNTRY has a surplus from tariffs. Apparently you aren't understanding how tariffs work. Jaime Diamond just came out and said he didn't believe the tariffs would work and he was wrong. Sir, the hold up now is jerome powell. he's holding interest rates because he doesn't see enough success in the tariffs even though the bottom line proves our inflation has slowed. and it slowed yet again in July.

**edit** the reciprocal tariffs appear to be taking care of this lopsided tariffs that we had with other countries. if you google brazils tariffs you can see why it was done. A lot of these tariff negotiations are leverages to get governments to work with us. so coffee from brazil goes up. get it elsewhere

if inflation is slowing as you said, why prices of many items keeps going up? if interest rate goes up, I do not use credit, if it goes down, still try not to use it. If you manage your money/income, then you know what is going in your finances, but I have seen some families having a hard time due to increased prices. So, the money from the tariffs is helping the average people?

please answer this question:

who is paying or will pay for these tariffs?
or better said, where this money is coming or will come from?
the money of these tariffs (already collected) where it will go?

(edited) as you said, I do not understand how tariffs work, please explain that to me, with examples or numbers.

I am not an economist as you, but what these names you mentioned Jamie Diamond and Jerome Powell have to do with tariffs?
Jerome Powell (as you said) is holding interest rates, in what the interest rate affect or benefit tariffs?

 

[Geneva Olson]

please answer this question:

who is paying or will pay for these tariffs?
or better said, where this money is coming or will come from?
the money of these tariffs (already collected) where it will go?

Here's what I think everyone is forgetting. We were lopsided on tariffs. We were paying huge tariffs to other countries. and they weren't paying very high tariffs to us. Now, Trump used the reciprocal tariffs to even them out. For instance, brazil initially had a 10% tariff. because of political prosecution of the former president, he raised the tariffs to 50%. That's the price they have to pay to get there goods into our country. Yea, of course the prices are going to rise for us, but the goods have to get here first and Brazil has to pay those tariffs first. He's using the tariffs to leverage and posture the other countries. Japan: He was imposing a 25% tariff on Japan. They have to pay that tariff before they can get the goods into america. Then the price is raised. Well, the negotiation with Trump happened and he dropped the tariff to 15% AND they invested 550 billion into our economy. Now remember, if japan makes their products over here, nobody pays a tariff. and that's exactly what happened.

 

[guillermo]

Here's what I think everyone is forgetting. We were lopsided on tariffs. We were paying huge tariffs to other countries. and they weren't paying very high tariffs to us. Now, Trump used the reciprocal tariffs to even them out. For instance, brazil initially had a 10% tariff. because of political prosecution of the former president, he raised the tariffs to 50%. That's the price they have to pay to get there goods into our country. Yea, of course the prices are going to rise for us, but the goods have to get here first and Brazil has to pay those tariffs first. He's using the tariffs to leverage and posture the other countries. Japan: He was imposing a 25% tariff on Japan. They have to pay that tariff before they can get the goods into america. Then the price is raised. Well, the negotiation with Trump happened and he dropped the tariff to 15% AND they invested 550 billion into our economy. Now remember, if japan makes their products over here, nobody pays a tariff. and that's exactly what happened.

so, you are telling me that the exporter of goods pays the tariffs, are you sure?

 

[Geneva Olson]

so, you are telling me that the exporter of goods pays the tariffs, are you sure?

yes. in order to get the goods into the country they have to pay the tariff. yes, the cost of the tariff is passed on to us, but they have to get it into the country first. no country wants to pay that huge amount. Trump is trying to get them to either make the products here (no tariffs) or reciprocal which means they pay 10% we pay 10% so it evens out and no one notices the difference.

Here's the explanation from AI:
In the United States, tariffs on imports are generally paid by the importer of record when the goods enter the country, typically as part of the customs clearance process at the port of entry.
More specifically:

• The U.S. buyer or their agent (importer of record) is responsible for paying tariffs to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

 

[guillermo]

yes. in order to get the goods into the country they have to pay the tariff. yes, the cost of the tariff is passed on to us, but they have to get it into the country first. no country wants to pay that huge amount. Trump is trying to get them to either make the products here (no tariffs) or reciprocal which means they pay 10% we pay 10% so it evens out and no one notices the difference.

Here's the explanation from AI:
In the United States, tariffs on imports are generally paid by the importer of record when the goods enter the country, typically as part of the customs clearance process at the port of entry.
More specifically:

• The U.S. buyer or their agent (importer of record) is responsible for paying tariffs to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

as you said, the importer pays, that means that the importer will raise the price on the goods he is importing and we will buy...... then, who will pay the tariff, this is what I understand, BUT YOU SAID THAT THE COUNTRY BRAZIL (AS YOUR EXAMPLE) HAS TO PAY FOR TARIFFS, you were wrong and you also proved with your response, that is why I insist that we and you will pay for those tariffs.....

that was my whole point since the beginning that we will pay for those tariffs, NOT the country that is exporting to US, as you mentioned that Brazil in order to get the goods in the US has to pay in advance....

se below:

 

[Geneva Olson]

as you said, the importer pays, that means that the importer will raise the price on the goods he is importing and we will buy...... then, who will pay the tariff, this is what I understand, BUT YOU SAID THAT THE COUNTRY BRAZIL (AS YOUR EXAMPLE) HAS TO PAY FOR TARIFFS, you were wrong and you also proved with your response, that is why I insist that we will pay for those tariffs.....

se below: View attachment 178511

Ok, you're arguing literally just to argue. Do you not understand what importer of record is? You haven't said anything that I didn't say. In order to get the goods into the country, the importer of record has to pay the tariff. YES, it is passed on to the consumer. For instance, I sell trade show displays. The parts to the displays are made in china. We have had a tariff increase of about 8%. SO the prices of our products have gone up by 8%. (the polyester is made here in America).
You should probably read up on this more. Because you're trying to argue but you're not understanding what the terminology is.

I never told you that tariffs weren't passed on to the consumer. But the goods have to get onto American soil FIRST. the importer of record has to pay the tariff in order for people to unload it off the ship in America.
Good Lord.

 

[Geneva Olson]

If we impose a tariff on china and they are trying to sell something at our port, if the tariff is too high. no one is going to buy their goods.
It's all about trades. If Starbucks goes to market and sees brazilian coffee is 50% higher because of the tariffs, and they see jamaican coffee has 10% on tariffs, they will buy the jamaican coffee. (which is better anyway in my opinion). so brazilian coffee sits there and spoils. Brazil WANTS to sell us their coffee because we are big coffee consumers. But their politics made Trump raise the tariff on them. So, Brazil's coffee is going to get stale because Starbucks and joe schmoe coffee company won't buy it. Do you get it yet?

 

[guillermo]

Ok, you're arguing literally just to argue. Do you not understand what importer of record is? You haven't said anything that I didn't say. In order to get the goods into the country, the importer of record has to pay the tariff. YES, it is passed on to the consumer. For instance, I sell trade show displays. The parts to the displays are made in china. We have had a tariff increase of about 8%. SO the prices of our products have gone up by 8%. (the polyester is made here in America).
You should probably read up on this more. Because you're trying to argue but you're not understanding what the terminology is.

I never told you that tariffs weren't passed on to the consumer. But the goods have to get onto American soil FIRST. the importer of record has to pay the tariff in order for people to unload it off the ship in America.
Good Lord.

still, the importer of record pays the money upfront, and then he will get it back from us........................ Good Lord.

 

[Geneva Olson]

still, the importer of record pays the money upfront, and then he will get it back from us........................ Good Lord.

yes. but it may sit at the port and not get sold. So the company is out the money for making it and shipping it.

ALL because of the country of origin.

 

[ikarasu]

still, the importer of record pays the money upfront, and then he will get it back from us........................ Good Lord.

Don't bother... I've given up, it's like talking to a wall, then the next thing you know you'll be called a racist because you're forcing Americans to pay the tarrifs when someone else should pay them, or some other crazy interpretation of racism.

Those who have actually imported products or use a lot of a product understand what tarrifs do. The people who buy a roll or two of vinyl every other day or week and pay $10 don't see it as an issue.

We've spent an additional $128,000 on aluminum this year compared to last, due to the 25% tarrifs Canada imposed on China. That's 128k taken out of our business's pocket, and put into the government's / the importers pocket. No one can say this tarrif is good for us or our business.... Its not even good for our aluminum factories as it's still cheaper to buy from China.... Until the tarrif goes up 100% and it actually makes people buy Canadian aluminum, it's a tax.

And all other goods / tarrifs are the same thing.


[Edit] and before someone questions it... Some prices have been raised, so it's not a 128k loss... But that just means every person we've sold to is now paying the tarrif tax. We've lost about 45k in Proffit, due to contracts and other areas where we could not raise the price. And this is due to Canada adding a tarrif... Not USA adding one. But if you multiply every single item having a tariff, it adds up and every single person is paying more.

 

[XtremeXccessories]

the COUNTRY has a surplus from tariffs. Apparently you aren't understanding how tariffs work. Jaime Diamond just came out and said he didn't believe the tariffs would work and he was wrong. Sir, the hold up now is jerome powell. he's holding interest rates because he doesn't see enough success in the tariffs even though the bottom line proves our inflation has slowed. and it slowed yet again in July.

**edit** the reciprocal tariffs appear to be taking care of this lopsided tariffs that we had with other countries. if you google brazils tariffs you can see why it was done. A lot of these tariff negotiations are leverages to get governments to work with us. so coffee from brazil goes up. get it elsewhere

You keep going on about Jerome Powell (I assume because Trump does), but it's not like he's the god-king of the Federal Reserve, it's a board of (I believe) 12. If I remember correctly, 10 out of 12 on the board voted to keep the rate at what it is. You really think Trump knows better than every person on that board? Of course he wants it lowered, he wants nothing more in life than to look like a big, strong, smart boy. Probably a good thing they didn't lower it considering the dismal job report that just came out. And he just fired the head of the BLS because the numbers made him look bad. He's a pathetic child.

 

[guillermo]

Don't bother... I've given up, it's like talking to a wall, then the next thing you know you'll be called a racist because you're forcing Americans to pay the tarrifs when someone else should pay them, or some other crazy interpretation of racism.

Those who have actually imported products or use a lot of a product understand what tarrifs do. The people who buy a roll or two of vinyl every other day or week and pay $10 don't see it as an issue.

We've spent an additional $128,000 on aluminum this year compared to last, due to the 25% tarrifs Canada imposed on China. That's 128k taken out of our business's pocket, and put into the government's / the importers pocket. No one can say this tarrif is good for us or our business.... Its not even good for our aluminum factories as it's still cheaper to buy from China.... Until the tarrif goes up 100% and it actually makes people buy Canadian aluminum, it's a tax.

And all other goods / tarrifs are the same thing.


[Edit] and before someone questions it... Some prices have been raised, so it's not a 128k loss... But that just means every person we've sold to is now paying the tarrif tax. We've lost about 45k in Proffit, due to contracts and other areas where we could not raise the price. And this is due to Canada adding a tarrif... Not USA adding one. But if you multiply every single item having a tariff, it adds up and every single person is paying more.

I was going to say the same thing as you, I will give up but....... you actually confirmed what I have been saying for a lots of comments: WE ARE PAYING THOSE TARIFFS. you just confirmed it in your last sentence.

"But if you multiply every single item having a tariff, it adds up and every single person is paying more"

that is has been my point from the beginning.

You keep going on about Jerome Powell (I assume because Trump does), but it's not like he's the god-king of the Federal Reserve, it's a board of (I believe) 12. If I remember correctly, 10 out of 12 on the board voted to keep the rate at what it is. You really think Trump knows better than every person on that board? Of course he wants it lowered, he wants nothing more in life than to look like a big, strong, smart boy. Probably a good thing they didn't lower it considering the dismal job report that just came out. And he just fired the head of the BLS because the numbers made him look bad. He's a pathetic child.

Agree 1000%

 

[ikarasu]

You keep going on about Jerome Powell (I assume because Trump does), but it's not like he's the god-king of the Federal Reserve, it's a board of (I believe) 12. If I remember correctly, 10 out of 12 on the board voted to keep the rate at what it is. You really think Trump knows better than every person on that board? Of course he wants it lowered, he wants nothing more in life than to look like a big, strong, smart boy. Probably a good thing they didn't lower it considering the dismal job report that just came out. And he just fired the head of the BLS because the numbers made him look bad. He's a pathetic child.

Woah now. Those numbers were rigged. It's a scam by the left to make Republicans look bad.

 

[GAC05]

More tariff news: We may be paying more for jeans.

Apparently, Sydney Sweeney was made in the USA, but the American Eagle jeans she is wearing are not:

China
Core denim manufacturing
Vietnam
Stretch denim, finishing
High
Bangladesh
High-volume production
Mexico
Fast turnaround to U.S.