Would not raise tariffs if there is an extension
- Growth is contributing to the lower trade deficit
- Obama was ready to start a big war with North Korea
- I have a great relationship with Kim Jong Un.
The President's announcement of a national emergency on the border security, ended up as a full blown pres conference on all sorts of topics. He said talks with China were going well, but said at one point, he loves tariffs as it brings billions and billiions of dollars into the US.
He did balance that by saying that he would look to extend the trade deal deadline if there is progress on talks and would raise tariffs if it were extended..
He also spoke on North Korea, and Syria, and USMCA. The only not touched was Russian investigation (which was nice for a change).
The stock market did give up some gains when he said he "loved tariffs". The S&P is up 20 points at 2765. It did reach 2772. The Nasdaq is down 30 points from 7477 high (still up 21 points).
Regarding the tariffs, the US budget statement yesterday did show custom duties were up from last year.
- Custom duties (tariffs). $5.992 billion versus $3.107 billion, up 92.9% for the month. For the fiscal year custom duties are up 88.7%
That is on the receipt side.
What is counter balancing those gains was a large expenditure increase for agriculture. Those numbers showed:
- agriculture $7.602 billion versus $3.577 billion, +112.5% for the month. For the fiscal year agricultural outlays are up 9.9%
I wonder if that is to the farmers hurt from the tariffs?
If a deal can be done, however, all the ups and downs would be smoothed out and it should lead to stronger growth.
