Communicating this as a huge windfall is inaccurate, writes Peter Watson.
In a world that should be getting smarter, it is hard to understand the disconnect with our neighbour to the south.
At the recent State of the Union address, President Donald Trump congratulated himself on implementing tariffs, saying “countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Goods sent to the U.S. are faced with tariffs. However, economic reports show that 95 per cent of those tariffs are paid by the U.S. companies bringing in foreign goods. Many of those firms pass on the additional cost to the consumer.
Communicating this as a huge windfall is inaccurate. It is a huge cost to Americans. The disconnect continues. In politics, there are checks and balances.
Perhaps Republicans want to protect their president, but the opposing Democrats are failing to effectively communicate the damaging reality of the U.S. tariffs on their nation.
In a country that has freedom of speech as the First Amendment of its constitution, what are news media outlets doing to effectively illustrate that the tariffs are not punishing foreign businesses but hurting Americans?
The Supreme Court ruled against tariffs because they are taxes, and all taxes are set by Congress, not the president. Trump dismissed that ruling by insulting the judges and immediately implementing another strategy to impose tariffs.
Peter Watson, of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial planning column, Dollars & Sense. He can be contacted through www.watsoninvestments.com.
