The increase in the deficit counters Trump’s efforts to use tariffs to reduce imbalances around the globe. When announcing so-called reciprocal tariffs in April 2025, the White House used the level of trade deficits with varying countries as a baseline for determining the duties. ...
The tariff idea was floated before lunch on Friday, Jan 16.
Stocks closed down just 4-points that day.
The scale of the subsequent market reaction was comparatively minor in the event, and Trump pulled the trigger reversing himself very quickly unlike in April 2025.
Trump wants stock market winners, the rich, on his side, because he's losing the rest of us.
SPX up 1.27%, long yields down 4 basis points, gold and silver cool off.
Same shit, different day.
Instead it's just negative waves all the time.
From the story here:
... “The bottom line is, I think inflation is still uncomfortably high,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s. “Inflation for staples, necessities, remains elevated.” ...
Tariffs levied by President Donald Trump have put upward pressure on the inflation rate, Zandi said. ...
“I think were it not for the tariffs, we would have been back to target already,” Zandi said. “But tariffs have pushed up inflation a little over half a [percentage] point.” ...
Overall, the headline inflation rate is higher than it appears on paper, Zandi said. The record-long government shutdown, which ran from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, prevented federal statisticians from collecting typical inflation data in October. Without that data, the BLS assumed that no price increases had taken place during the month for most categories of goods and services, Zandi said. Moody’s estimates the annual CPI inflation rate would be around 3% if that data were included, he said. ...
Overall CPI inflation, not seasonally adjusted, came in at 2.7% year over year in December 2025, while core CPI inflation was lower at 2.6% in today's report:
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| overall |
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| core |
And you don't put protective tariffs on trade when you have nothing to protect.
“We’re in charge,” he told reporters. “We need total access. We need access to the oil and to other things in their country that allow us to rebuild their country.”
More.
Corporate bankruptcies surged in 2025, rivaling levels not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, as import-dependent businesses absorbed the highest tariffs in decades.
At least 717 companies filed for bankruptcy through November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That’s roughly 14 percent more than the same 11 months of 2024, and the highest tally since 2010. ...
More.
Trump likes to trumpet the billion$ he's collecting in tariffs, but there is no single report which calculates the hundreds of billion$ these bankruptcies must cost the economy over time.
The National Debt these deficits increase stands at $38.35 trillion.
And people accuse Wall Street of short-term thinking.
Trump's total disapproval score remains at a record high 55% for a second day.
His strong approval score is now a record low 27%, lower than his April 9th tariff low of 29%, his only sub-30 score until the last two weeks.
Trump has had a string of eleven sub-30 strong approval scores since November 11th.
Trump kicked off the period on November 11th stating that we needed H-1B workers because we didn't have enough talent in America. The longest federal government shutdown in history ended on Wednesday the 12th. Around the 15th he reversed his tariffs on coffee and other food items which had contributed to their record high prices in the first place. The same day brought the news that he had also stabbed Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia in the back over her criticism of the GOP's refusal to extend the Obamacare premium tax credits. The Epstein files saga came to a head on the 18th requiring their release, but will we ever see them? TikTok was supposed to be sold or shut down by act of Congress, too, and it has not been. On the 19th Trump was kissing the ass of the Saudi killer of Khashoggi, MBS, in the Oval Office. On the 20th Trump's secret 28-point plan with Russia to carve up Ukraine came to light. On the 22nd Democrats went on camera talking darkly about illegal orders being given to the military in the Caribbean. A National Guard soldier was executed on the streets of DC on the 26th by an Afghan refugee let into America by Biden but given residency by Trump. By the 29th we learned that survivors of a Trump drug boat attack in the Caribbean on September 2 were executed in a subsequent strike by the US military, which they obviously hoped no one would ever find out about. They spent the whole time since making up shit about this being a war justifying military engagement when everyone knows it's not a war and killing people for running drugs in the first place is wrong, otherwise the job we give the Coast Guard to do year in and year out has been simply a pointless exercise.
Trump's base is not happy. Pick your reason(s).
October revenues were 7% below average.
I thought the tariffs meant we were swimming in money?
The Congress has the tariff authority, not the president, according to the constitution, and needs to reign in the powers it has delegated to the executive if it cares what is good for the country.
65% of the country disapproves of the GOP-controlled Congress.
