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“Liberation Day” Tariffs Explained
The April 2 announcement contained two distinct tariff actions.
First, a universal 10 percent tariff will apply to virtually all U.S. imports starting April 5.
Second, beginning April 9, the administration will impose country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs—targeted at 57 named countries, with rates reaching as high as 50 percent. These nations were identified as chronic trade offenders, based on their bilateral trade surpluses with the United States, perceived tariff asymmetries, and other barriers to U.S. exports.
This is dumb, but honestly just passed by a lot of bars and were shocked at how packed they are with people dropping so much cash.
I know the repercussions haven't really hit yet but I assumed more people would be just a little worried. Maybe they just don't understand what's going on or even know about it. I'm going to be saving my soon-to-be-worthless scraps of USD for a while at least.
I've been buying a little more because I expect prices to skyrocket soon. Things I was planning to get anyways eventually but was in no rush to buy. Then I'll be in ascetic mode if this goes on for a long time.
Same! I've been buying electronics, appliances, clothes, and things that I thought would be too expensive for me if tariffs did happen (which they did) or if I lost my job (hopefully doesn't happen). My family thought I was going a bit wild impatiently buying at the time, but I think they'll see I was right. Ended up spending a lot of cash since around November but ideally it'll help me coast through a disaster more comfortably. Now I'm just in hibernation mode.
Hope we both made the right move.
Yes exactly. One item that I use that wears down every few years is $35 with a coupon on AliExpress right now. It's $120 on Amazon. With tariffs and the removal of de minimis, it would become $100 on AliExpress and probably $170 on Amazon. I can justify $35 every few years but $100+ is not my kind of spending habit.