UPDATE 12
U.S. and Chinese officials said they had reached a deal to roll back most of their recent tariffs and call a 90-day truce in their trade war for more talks on resolving their trade disputes.
apnews.com
US and China have reached a 90 day agreement that has the US tariff towards China lowered to 30% and China's 125% tariff to the US is 10%.
GENEVA (AP) — The United States and
China agreed Monday to slash their massive
recent tariffs, restarting stalled trade between the world’s two biggest economies and setting off a rally in global
financial markets.
But the de-escalation in
President Donald Trump’s trade wars did nothing to resolve underlying differences between Beijing and Washington. The deal lasts 90 days, creating time for U.S. and Chinese negotiators to reach a more substantive agreement. But the pause also leaves tariffs higher than before
Trump started ramping them up last month. And businesses and investors must contend with uncertainty about whether the truce will last.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the U.S. agreed to drop the 145% tax Trump imposed last month to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%.
UPDATE 11
The first ships that are carrying goods with the 145% tariffs from China are just arriving in the US
“This week, we’re down about 35% compared to the same time last year, and these cargo ships coming in are the first ones to be attached to the tariffs that were levied against China and other locations last month,” Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told CNN Tuesday. “That’s why the cargo volume is so light.”
The drop-off in imports from China on the boats now coming into port is more than 50%, Seroka said. Many importers have canceled previous orders because US businesses aren’t interested in paying the steep tariff, which can more than double the price of Chinese goods.
The Port of LA had expected 80 ships to arrive in May, but 20% of those have been canceled, Seroka said. Customers have already canceled 13 sailings for June.
”A 60% decline in containers means 60% less stuff arriving,” Petersen told CNN’s Pamela Brown Tuesday. “It’s only a matter of time before they sell through existing inventory, and then you’ll see shortages. And that’s when you see price hikes.”
Imports into the United States during the second half of 2025 are expected to fall at least 20% year over year, according to the National Retail Federation. The decline from China will be even starker: JP Morgan expects a 75% to 80% drop in imports from there.
Stockpiling boosted the US trade deficit more than expected in March, widening it to a record $140.5 billion as businesses hoarded materials, supplies and consumer goods ahead of the bulk of Trump’s tariffs.
“Businesses spent Q1 front-loading orders for consumer and capital goods (among other things) ahead of Liberation Day on April 2,” noted Daniel Vielhaber, economist at Nationwide, in a note to clients Tuesday. “However, with the new tariffs now in place, we look for a shift up in inflation, adding a headwind to already slowing consumer activity and economic growth.”
Despite the swell of new tariffs in April, economists anticipate the surge in imports to continue for at least a few more weeks as the last few shipments that were on the water before Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs were announced arrive into port.
“Goods will enter the country duty free if they were loaded on a ship at the port of departure or in route to the US ahead of the tariff imposition date and are received before May 27,” Wells Fargo economists wrote in a note to investors Tuesday. “This gives businesses a bit more time to get product in ahead of tariffs and suggests we may see a last-ditch effort in the April data. But beyond that we expect trade to slow materially.”
UPDATE 10
Straight from Trump on Truth Social
The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and...
xcancel.com
Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social
@TrumpDailyPosts
The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States. Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated. This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda! Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!
From Donald Trump Truth Social 05/04/25 07:18 PM
Donald Trump said that he is ordering the U.S. Trade Representative and the Commerce Department to begin the process to impose a 100% tariff on imports of movies that are produced in “foreign lands.” Calling runaway production a “national security threat,” Trump’s comments follow reports that...
deadline.com
UPDATE 9
Time did an interview with Trump. Here are all the insane ramblings about tariffs
President Trump discussed his trade war and the economy, immigration, presidential power, and more
time.com
BOLD = Interviewer
Standard = Trump
Summary: Trump doesn't even want certain items to be made in America, no exemptions to tariffs because CEO's can't make investments into America if it loses $2 Trillion in trade a year. Lies about how small businesses will benefit from tariffs more than large ones.
Well let’s talk about the tariffs. You want companies to build and make goods here in America.
Not in all cases. There are some products I really don't want to make here.
Like t-shirts?
I can’t–I can give you a list because I actually have a list, but if you want, I could give it to you.
Well, I mean, the question is, how can CEOs make long-term plans and investments if our tariff policy can change from day to day and still remains so uncertain?
How can they make long-term investments? I'll turn it around. How can they make long-term investments if our country is losing $2 trillion a year on trade?
Will you consider giving exemptions—
No wait, just so you understand. How can we sustain and how is it sustainable that our country lost almost $2 trillion on trade in Biden years, in this last year. That's not—when you talk about a company. I had the head of Walmart yesterday, right in that seat. I had the head of Walmart. I had the head of Home Depot and the head of Target in my office. And I'll tell you what they think, they think what I'm doing is exactly right.
Well, the CEOs of small businesses are saying they may not be able to last another two months with the current regime in place. Will you consider giving small businesses an exemption similar to what you've given to Big Tech?
I’d have to look at the individual business.
Would you consider it?
Our country is going to be very rich in not a long period of time. I've been doing this for three months, and if you look at the kind of numbers that we're taking in and the jobs, and if you look at, more importantly, the companies, the chip companies, the car companies, the Apple. $500 billion. Apple is investing $500 billion in building plants. They never invested in this country.
Small businesses are worried that you’re treating the Apples of the world better than you’re treating them.
No, I’m treating small businesses—small businesses will be a bigger beneficiary of what I'm doing than than the large businesses. But everybody's going to benefit.
Summary: High tariffs remaining will be a total victory, wants to get rich like
India and
Brazil, talks about businesses going to build in America like Nvidia.
If we still have high tariffs, whether it's 20% or 30% or 50%, on foreign imports a year from now, will you consider that a victory?
Total victory.
Why so?
Because the country will be making a fortune. Look, that's what China did to us. They charge us 100%. If you look at India—India charges 100-150%. If you look at Brazil, if you look at many, many countries, they charge—that's how they survive. That's how they got rich. Now, zero would be easy. Oh, zero would be easy, but zero, you wouldn't have any companies coming in. They're coming in because they don't want to pay the tariffs. Remember this, there are no tariffs, if they make their product here. There are no tariffs, if they make their product here. There are no tariffs. This is a tremendous success. You just don't know it yet, but this is a tremendous success what’s happening. We're taking in billions and billions of dollars, money that we never took in before. We're also, very importantly, because of that, because of the money we're taking in, those companies are going to come back and they're going to make their product here. They're going to go back into North Carolina and start making furniture again. They've already started. In Mexico, many car plants that were under construction have stopped. They're all coming into this country. We're gonna, you're gonna see car plants going at a level that you've never seen before.
Your trade adviser–
I'm also—chips. Look at Jensen.
Nvidia.
He's gonna spend $500 billion. Look at Mr. Wei from Taiwan.
Do you trust them when they say that? These businessmen who say, Oh, I'm gonna spend $500 billion.
Oh yeah. Well, I’ll tell you why I trust them. First of all, I think they’re trustworthy people. But more importantly, they have no choice, because they won't be able to pay the tariffs if they don't do it. The tariffs are bringing in the business. Remember, with all the, you know, questions you're asking about tariffs, there are no tariffs when you make your product here.
Sure, no, I understand, Mr. President—
Zero.
Summary: Trump has made 200 deals with 195 countries (trust
) and will be announced over the next 3 to 4 weeks.
Your trade adviser, Peter Navarro, says 90 deals in 90 days is possible. We're now 13 days into the point from when you lifted the reciprocal, the discounted reciprocal tariffs. There's zero deals so far. Why is that?
No, there’s many deals.
When are they going to be announced?
You have to understand, I'm dealing with all the companies, very friendly countries. We're meeting with China. We're doing fine with everybody. But ultimately, I've made all the deals.
Not one has been announced yet. When are you going to announce them?
I’ve made 200 deals.
You’ve made 200 deals?
100%.
Can you share with whom?
Because the deal is a deal that I choose. View it differently: We are a department store, and we set the price. I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it, or they don't have to pay it. They don't have to do business with the United States, but I set a tariff on countries. Some have been horrible to us. Some have been okay. Nobody's been great. Nobody's been great. Everybody took advantage of us. What I'm doing is I will, at a certain point in the not too distant future, I will set a fair price of tariffs for different countries. These are countries—some of them have made hundreds of billions of dollars, and some of them have made just a lot of money. Very few of them have made nothing because the United States was being ripped off by every, almost every country in the world, in the entire world. So I will set a price, and when I set the price, and I will set it fairly according to the statistics, and according to everything else. For instance, do they have the VAT system in play? Do they charge us tariffs? How much are they charging us? How much have they been charging us? Many, many different factors, right. How are we being treated by that country? And then I will set a tariff. Are we paying for their military? You know, as an example, we have Korea. We pay billions of dollars for the military. Japan, billions for those and others. But that, I'm going to keep us a separate item, the paying of the military. Germany, we have 50,000 soldiers—
I’m just curious, why don’t you announce these deals that you’ve solidified?
I would say, over the next three to four weeks, and we're finished, by the way.
You’re finished?
We’ll be finished.
Oh, you will be finished in three to four weeks.
I’ll be finished. Now, some countries may come back and ask for an adjustment, and I'll consider that, but I'll basically be, with great knowledge, setting—ready? We're a department store, a giant department store, the biggest department store in history. Everybody wants to come in and take from us. They're going to come in and they're going to pay a price for taking our treasure, for taking our jobs, for doing all of these things. But what I'm doing with the tariffs is people are coming in, and they're building at levels you've never seen before. We have $7 trillion of new plants, factories and other things, investment coming into the United States. And if you look back at past presidents, nobody was anywhere near that. And this is in three months.
Summary: Despite China saying there have been no talks with the US, Trump says Xi called him. Trump now identifies as a "giant store".
Will you call President Xi if he doesn’t call you?
No.
You won’t?
Nope.
Has he called you yet?
Yep.
When did he call you?
He's called. And I don't think that's a sign of weakness on his behalf.
But you would think it’s a sign of weakness if you called him?
I don’t–I just look—
Well, what did he say?
If people want to–well, we all want to make deals. But I am this giant store. It's a giant, beautiful store, and everybody wants to go shopping there. And on behalf of the American people, I own the store, and I set prices, and I'll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay.
This period of uncertainty will be over in three to four weeks?
I don’t think there’s any uncertainty there. The only thing—they have an option. They don't have to shop here. They can go someplace else, but there aren't too many places they can go. You understand what I mean though?
Sure. Your Treasury Secretary says this situation with China is unsustainable.
Oh I agree. You mean the way it is now?
Yes.
Or the way it was before I got here?
The current moment, too, he believes is unsustainable.
Well, no, they won’t do any business here, because at 145% it's going to be very rare that you see business.
But your conversations with Xi have made you feel like we’re moving towards a more productive—
Oh, there’s a number at which they will feel comfortable. Yeah. But you can’t let them make a trillion dollars from us. You can’t let them make $750 billion. See, that’s really what’s not sustainable when China makes a trillion dollars, or a trillion one, when we have almost $2 trillion worth of, I call it loss. Some people don't, but a lot of it’s loss. I say, when you have a trade deficit of $2 trillion I consider that loss.
Summary: Despite the bond market being the reason Trump lifted the reciprocal tariffs, Trump says they weren't.
Mr. President, there was a period of time on April 9 when the bond market was under extreme stress and there was a risk of a financial crisis far beyond what the plummeting stock market suggested.
I wasn’t worried.
What did your advisers tell you, though? You were in the Oval Office with Scott Bessent and Howard Lutnick. What did they tell you to convince you to lift the reciprocal tariffs for the 90-day pause?
They didn’t tell me. I did that.
What made you decide?
It wasn’t for that reason.
It wasn’t for the bond market?
No, it wasn’t for that reason. I'm doing that until we come up with the numbers that I want to come up with. I've met with a lot of countries. I've talked on the telephone. I don’t even want them to come in.
You said the bond market was getting the yips.
The bond market was getting the yips, but I wasn’t. Because I know what we have. I know what we have, but I also know we won't have it for long if we allowed four more years of the gross incompetence. This thing was just running—it was running as a free spirit. This was—this was the most incompetent president in history.
UPDATE 8
Trump caves on tariffs to China but they won't be zero
Trump’s massive import taxes have roiled stock markets since he announced them on April 1
www.independent.co.uk
Speaking in the Oval Office after a brief swearing-in ceremony for
Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, Trump said talks with China were “doing fine” because “everybody wants to have involvement” in American markets. He also claimed that both he and Chinese representatives would be “very nice” in any upcoming talks but maintained that Beijing would ultimately be forced to come to some sort of agreement to bring down the massive
tariffs he has unilaterally imposed as part of his unprovoked trade war with China — and the rest of the world.
“Ultimately, they have to make a deal, because otherwise they're not going to be able to deal in the United States, and we want them involved, but they have to, and other countries have to make a deal, and if they don't make a deal, we'll set the deal,” he said.
“We're going to be setting the deal, and it'll be a fair deal for everybody and it'll be — I think it's a process that's going to go pretty quickly.”
UPDATE 7
The Trump admin is now claiming China tariff are 245%, but it's the previous 145% plus 100% tariffs on Section 301 goods
The White House said higher tariffs are a result of Chinese retaliation on trade.
www.newsweek.com
UPDATE 6
The purpose of this message is to provide further guidance on the additional duties due on imported merchandise which were imposed by Executive Order 14257, issued April 2, 2025, and published in the Federal Register Notice, “
Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Practices that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits,” 90 FR 15041 (Apr. 7, 2025), as amended by Executive Order 14259, issued on April 8, 2025, “
Amendment to Reciprocal Tariffs and Updated Duties as Applied to Low-Value Imports from the People’s Republic of China,” and as further amended by the Executive Order dated April 9, 2025, “
Modifying Reciprocal Tariff Rates to Reflect Trading Partner Retaliation and Alignment.”
In accordance with the April 11, 2025 Presidential Memorandum “Clarification of Exceptions Under Executive Order 14257 of April 2, 2025, as amended” (the Memorandum), products properly classified in the headings and subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) listed in the Memorandum, are reproduced below. All products that are properly classified in these listed provisions will be excluded from the reciprocal tariffs imposed under Executive Order 14257, as amended, pursuant to Section 3(b)(iv) of that Order, effective for merchandise entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01AM Eastern Daylight Time on April 5, 2025:
- 8471: Automatic data processing machines and units thereof; magnetic or optical readers, etc.
- 8473.30: Parts and accessories of the machines of heading
- 8486: Machines/apparatus for manufacture of semiconductor devices/electronic integrated circuits
- 8517.13.00: Smartphones
- 8517.62.00: Communication equipment (e.g., routers, switches, etc.)
- 8523.51.00: Solid-state non-volatile storage devices (e.g., NAND Flash Memory or SSD )
- 8524: Records, tapes and other recorded media for sound/data
- 8528.52.00: Monitors for use with ADP machines (8471)
- 8541.10.00: Diodes (excluding photosensitive and light-emitting diodes)
- 8541.21.00: Transistors with power dissipation < 1W
- 8541.29.00: Other transistors
- 8541.30.00: Thyristors, diacs, and triacs (excluding photosensitive devices)
- 8541.49.10: Mounted piezoelectric crystals
- 8541.49.70: Transistors (classified under other semiconductor devices)
- 8541.49.80: Optical coupled isolators
- 8541.49.95: Other semiconductor devices
- 8541.51.00: Semiconductor-based transducers
- 8541.59.00: Other semiconductor devices
- 8541.90.00: Parts of semiconductor devices
- 8542: Electronic integrated circuits
content.govdelivery.com
Site to look up all the headings:
https://hts.usitc.gov/
UPDATE 5
Trump says there is an immediate 90 pause and lowered the reciprocal tariffs to 10%, while raising the tariff against China to 125%
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
UPDATE 4
Canada
The pre-orders were originally set to go live on April 9.
mobilesyrup.com
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in Canada will not start on April 9, 2025 in order to align with the timing of pre-orders to be determined in the U.S.,” Nintendo of Canada said in a statement to MobileSyrup. “Nintendo will provide updated information at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
UPDATE 3
It's unclear if Nintendo Switch 2 preorders will be restocked at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or GameStop ahead of the console's June 5 launch.
www.gamespot.com
Here is the full statement Nintendo sent GameSpot:
"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged."
It's Joever
UPDATE 2
Announced on April 2, these go into effect the next day. This is on top of a general 10% increase on
all imported goods.
And for clarity, the reported "Tariffs Charged to the U.S.A Including Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers" is a lie. Others did the math and Trump is using the trade deficit divided by the nation's exports to the US.
UPDATE 1
Tariffs relating to the following products are delayed to April 2:
- Automobiles and auto parts
- Agricultural products/groceries
- Manufactured goods (electronics, machinery, consumer products)
- Textiles and apparel
- Chemical products
But Trump is now threatening that they
can go higher than 25% 
Original post
If you've been living under a rock, Trump has recently enacted multiple tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China.
As of March 4, 2025
25% tariff on ALL imports from Canada and Mexico (previously 0%)
20% tariff on ALL imports from China (previously 10%)
As these impact imports, any product already in the US is exempt. US consoles and retail games already in distribution centers, warehouses in the US, and on store shelves are not impacted. What will be impacted is all future shipments of retail game discs produced in Mexico and hardware and accessories produced in China. The first victim of this I'm aware of was
Nvidia's RTX 5080 and 5090 GPU rising anywhere between $100 and $400, back when the tariff on China was 10%.
Swedish retailer Inet.se and Overclockers UK have already reported that the new AMD Radeon RX 9070 will only have a few hundred cards available at MSRP and then the second shipment will see an increase to an as of now undisclosed price.
Here is a great graph showing the electronics imports US receives from China over the past decade.
As the days roll on with these tariffs active, we'll start to see what impact the US market will have to bear. The tariffs could end before console makers need to raise prices. Or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
