Trump’s Liberation Day: Launching US Business
The world isn’t so pleased with Donald Trump since taking office, but Americans are about to enjoy a very prosperous period.
Today’s event announced 50% reciprocal tariffs on nations that tariff the US. The event was a huge success for him politically given he not only announced protective tariffs for US companies. On his chartboard, he showed what other countries charge the US in their import tariffs. It showed how unfair they’ve been. The tariff rate by Thailand, Vietnam and India are shocking.
He mentioned cheating, such as currency manipulation, and said he would punish nations severely if they did so going forward. He said they should start buying US products.
Overall, the Liberation Day speech event was a big boost for Trump. He expressed himself as well as I’ve ever heard him. The stock market reacted badly in after-hours trading (futures) but are recovering now. Much of this has to do with the outlook for large companies such as Mag7 and a reduced export market. We still await foreign reactions, however, his speech set it straight that escalating would be disastrous. Several countries have already slashed their tariff rates.
Trump’s April 2nd Speech
Trump continues to boast America’s new backbone, self-esteem, rebirth, and opportunity, and his staunch support for America’s businesses. The event comes on the heels of the ADP jobs report which showed a nice increase in US employment which was expected to be poor.
He went on and on as he does about how other countries have been unfair for 50 years or more. He pointed out that 90,000 US factories went out of business during the Free Trade era.
He mentioned over a trillion in foreign direct investment by big companies like Oracle, Softbank, Apple, Hyundai, META, TSMC, and Nvidia. He laid the blame for the US trade deficit which he estimated at $19 trillion due to the trade failure. That’s not just money, but decades of lost opportunity for millions of young Americans. The chief of the United Auto Workers spoke glowingly of President Trump and the employment effect of the auto tariffs. He says the benefits will show in about 6 months.
My Linkedin post cited many of the reasons for his tariffs and many respondents felt the tariffs would do nothing.
It will take time for the new manufacturing facilities to be built and operational, but this definitely brightens the 6 month stock market forecast and the 5 year outlook.
Of course, no arrangement is perfect, and the Canadian auto industry is going to be hit. Canada and Mexico however, were not tariffed (except autos imported at 25%). Canadian companies are exempt from the tariff as long as they abide by the terms of the USMCA agreement.
Brazil will be charged 10% on their oil exports to the US, yet Canadian oil exports will not face tariffs. The news is good overall for Canadians who were bracing for the worst. Trump mentioned Canada’s dairy industry, but his claims against their dairy industry don’t seem credible. Canada does have 290% tariffs on some US dairy products if they reach a certain quota, but that quota hasn’t been reached.
The announcement might have a big effect on the upcoming Canadian election, since Canada doesn’t need to pursue new European trade, thus Liberal leader Mark Carney’s value is put into question.
The quest for American investors now, is to find those US-listed stocks of companies that will benefit from the protective tariffs. Read more on the best stocks to buy right now.
See more on the effect of the Trump tariffs on the stock market and a view of the stock market forecast. Stock market analysts are adjusting their predictions with downward estimates for the S&P, however, tonight they’re likely revising them back upward. They don’t look at the big picture and instead get caught up in political volatility and media news reports it seems.
