Nicolle Wallace on the Impact of Trump’s Tariff Whiplash ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts Approach’

EXCERPT:

WALLACE: “He figured he would be left with about $50 after deducting costs for truck rental, insurance and diesel, and was considering giving up as a self-employed driver. “I am just surviving, but I am not going to make it,” he said.’ Now, that’s just one person suffering the consequences. One of those shards of dropped, shattered glass. New York Times today reports on another, the saga of a small business in Vermont that sells stainless steel water bottles with a patented nozzle. After five years, the company, Bivo, was close to becoming profitable, but then, ‘the drop in tariffs this month to 30 percent from 145 percent on most Chinese goods was a relief, but in the way that a flood is better than a tsunami. The duties on Bivo’s bottles are higher than 30 percent because of the material they are made from and how they’re classified by trade officials. Bivo bottles are not — that are not insulated, are subject to tariffs that add up to 47 percent, and the rate for insulated bottles is 37 percent. Trump has frequently said that foreign businesses that ship products to the U.S. pay the tariffs, but in reality, importers like Bivo pay the duties to the federal government when goods arrive at a U.S. port.’ Donald Trump’s death by a thousand cuts approach to the U.S. economy is where we start today.”