r/wallstreetbets • u/s1n0d3utscht3k • Mar 03 '25

News Trump Officially Signs 20% Tariffs on China

https://www.barrons.com/news/trump-signs-order-for-20-tariff-on-china-w-house-d6fec57f
23.3k Upvotes

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5.1k

u/Responsible-Rip8793 Mar 03 '25

Either we pay more as consumers or we stop buying because things cost too much.

Surely, this is good for the economy

2.7k

u/Basis_404_ Mar 03 '25

No silly we’ll just buy from the American factories that source 100% of their supply chain domestically. Surely they have an ample supply of all the goods imported and people will just buy from them instead.

Wait, are there factories here?

Uh oh…

450

u/TheRealFaust Mar 03 '25

Duh, we can just build these, how long could it possibly take, 7 days?

279

u/CobaltD70 Mar 04 '25

It’s a factory Michael. How long could it take to build?

26

u/Willing-Ad473 Mar 04 '25

US doing all it can to Arrest it’s Development

3

u/thebaldfox Mar 04 '25

Oh, it's arrested it's development alright!

12

u/Din0zavr Mar 04 '25

Tony Stark built it in a cave

5

u/Ornery-Concern4104 Mar 04 '25

With a box of scraps!

5

u/dexatrosin Mar 04 '25

“Light” Treason.

4

u/ChocoCatastrophe Mar 04 '25

We're in heavy treason season.

3

u/brewhead55 Mar 04 '25

you could put everything this administration does to the Arrested development music and narrator and it would seamlessly integrate.

2

u/_Zelus Mar 05 '25

Ten bananas?

29

u/WickedDeviled Mar 04 '25

Calls on inflatable factories you blow up like a bouncy castle.

6

u/TheRealFaust Mar 04 '25

Look at this big brain idea, we need a venture capitalist to come steal it

3

u/Yatsey007 Mar 04 '25

Wacky Waving Inflatable Working Factory Emporium

1

u/iPigman Mar 04 '25

Do you have one in aerospace size? I've wanted to name my aircraft company "Boing!" for so long.

1

u/Quick_Humor_9023 Mar 04 '25

Sorry dude, nice idea, but those are made in china and now cost a cool billion.

5

u/unclefire Mar 03 '25

In China maybe.

7

u/StalinsLastStand Mar 03 '25

As long as constructing a factory won’t use any imported goods, we’re saved!

3

u/Elegant_Tower7813 Mar 04 '25

Ohio intel plant only taking 10 years at this point.

3

u/Frewdy1 Mar 04 '25

Don’t forget they’re also free to build and staff! 

3

u/destinyeeeee Mar 04 '25

Our dear leader is a man of the people! One of the common folk! I have no doubt he understands how industrial manufacturing works!

1

u/Regular_Bell8271 Mar 04 '25

Not only does he understand how it works, he also happens to be the best at industrial manufacturing!

2

u/D-Fence Mar 04 '25

If only the building materials to build these factories weren't imported as well :D

0

u/iPigman Mar 04 '25

...and the machinery inside these factories.

1

u/heybud86 Mar 04 '25

Ordered a factory on temu before the tariffs hit

830

u/clownysf Mar 03 '25

Don’t worry, we have a factory! And I’m totally 100% sure that they will increase production to match demand without raising prices…

323

u/Basis_404_ Mar 03 '25

Oh good we’re saved!

221

u/iBawsy Mar 03 '25

And don’t worry! I’m sure that factory will be able to produce to the same quality and quantity as foreign factories without the same global economies of scale

125

u/WeirdWaytoBe Mar 03 '25

And our aging demographic and blaming of immigrants for all our problems won't backfire in anyway on the cost and quality of the manufacturing. 

12

u/azteczz Mar 04 '25

I am also sure we will be able to construct a factory in less then 4 years then take it down in 8 or 4for the inevitable policy reversal

3

u/21Rollie Mar 04 '25

Biden was investing in factories here which is literally Trump’s stated purpose but he doesn’t want anything with Biden’s name on it. He doesn’t even want things with his own name on it. Like the USMCA that he pushed for and signed.

2

u/destinyeeeee Mar 04 '25

Damn why did I not think about this? (Its because I'm stupid)

Why would anybody in the domestic manufacturing sector risk rapid growth with this level of regime uncertainty?

5

u/bermudaliving Mar 04 '25

Nope Americans love working in factories!

2

u/21Rollie Mar 04 '25

Are you telling me illiterate 60 year old hillbillies from west Virginia can’t run a state of the art microchip factory??!!

1

u/Tylanthia Mar 04 '25

That's why we repeal child labor laws.

1

u/Equivalent-Honey-659 Mar 04 '25

I know two people that need jobs but I’m not hiring then because they don’t have licenses and have crippling drug addictions!

5

u/c_punter Mar 04 '25

Okay, so then all our problems are solved. Why is everyone worried?!

2

u/Salt_World Mar 04 '25

I used to work in a small car parts factory in the Midwest before it shut down. We were seriously still using presses from WWII.

2

u/Dozekar Mar 04 '25

The cost of the products and labor, and our general population not being able to afford it is why we haven't done this for most consumer crap in a long time. So now we go back to that apparently. People see the good old days and see the upper middle class and think that's them. They don't look at the poor laborer and think hmm I wanna go back to that.

Too bad chucklefucks, strap in.

1

u/iPigman Mar 04 '25

Oh dear lard; it's the "Thoughts&Prayers" supply chain model.

11

u/danieljoneslocker Mar 03 '25

And the tariffs will pay down our debt and eliminate the need for an income tax! So we’ll be richer!

3

u/Mucay Mar 04 '25 edited Mar 04 '25

Tariffs will only pay half of our debt, the other half will be paid by selling fast-track US citizenship to rich people

Because if the US needs more of anything, it is definitely more rich people who will definitely not fuck the environment and the infrastructure, hoard their wealth and not pay their taxes

7

u/debauchasaurus Mar 03 '25

Just convert part of that Twinkie factory into making cars. Easy peasy.

4

u/MembershipNo2077 Mar 03 '25

I'm so happy that we have all the raw materials that we could ever need right here at home. I'm going to call up my local children to increase mine production.

6

u/tonsofgrassclippings Mar 03 '25

Lucky break: America’s one factory makes factories!

Just need the raw materials and, uh, they’re around here somewhere. I’m sure of it…

3

u/ready-eddy Mar 03 '25

Yes! With all these hard working mexicans… oh wait

3

u/J5892 Mar 03 '25

Ooh, and they'll create more jobs because they'll hire more people to cover the workload, instead of just overworking their current employees and implementing forced overtime, right?

...right?

3

u/jerkularcirc Mar 04 '25

is this factory on the blockchain? if so count me in

3

u/CoffeeOrTeaOrMilk Mar 04 '25

We have a concept of factories.

3

u/RedditIsDeadMoveOn Mar 04 '25

Is the factory in a prison?

2

u/Skyleader1212 Mar 04 '25

All of the jobs in the world too, now all of those American who desperately want the bottom paying jobs that was "stolen" from them by illegals immigrant could finally have them.

2

u/eharper9 Mar 04 '25

Isn't American-made usually more expensive?

2

u/MetalliTooL Mar 04 '25

They’ll probably even lower prices. Corporations love to help the consumer save money.

2

u/DwayneFrogsky Mar 04 '25

Surely the owners will simply eat the cost

1

u/ranganathmr Mar 03 '25

Aerotine international with cutting edge technology with civilian and military applications

1

u/festosterone5000 Mar 04 '25

Not just any factories. The best factories the world has ever seen.

1

u/Synchrotr0n Mar 04 '25

Even if local production costs could be as low as the things that come from China, manufacturers would still increase their prices by just under 20% to match the price of imports.

1

u/funndamentals Mar 04 '25

And increase wages.......right?

297

u/NaeemTHM Mar 03 '25

Nah, it's cool man. Tim Apple is making a $500 billion investment into America! Hopefully some of that money went to building a time machine to go back 3 years ago and make the factories that will be needed.

40

u/EnvironmentalCan381 Mar 03 '25

Yea starting 2028. If Donny becomes king then yes if not then no to that money.

65

u/TFenrir Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25

Are we just going to see a bunch of companies blindly promise to invest some large fraction of a trillion dollars into the US economy at some vaguely far away date (~3 years), just to get some kind of pass from this presidency, and then have those held up as examples of the health of the US economy?

56

u/SoWhatNoZitiNow Mar 04 '25

This is exactly what Tim Apple did in 2016. Pledged $380B in investment in US manufacturing in the face of tariffs on imported Chinese goods, and didn’t need to follow through. He just adjusted the number for inflation and rolled the dice a second time lol

23

u/NaeemTHM Mar 04 '25

Tim is my spirit animal.

This is the kind of degenerate shit that made Apple the most profitable company on the planet.

3

u/PatSajaksDick Mar 04 '25

Also this money was already on Apple’s books, so it really was a meaningless gesture just to make potus feel good. Tim really knows how to play him.

10

u/UrABigGuy4U Mar 03 '25

Yes, this is the end result of almost all BigBill headlines you see

31

u/Paddy_Tanninger Mar 03 '25

The disgusting part is that the stock market went wild with speculation leading up to 2rump, because we all just kind of assumed that every big corp would throw a few dozen million at him to buy their way into all sorts of tax breaks and favoritism and shit...like legitimately the entire market thought "oh this open corruption will be great for stock prices and market value".

4

u/HypocriteGrammarNazi Mar 04 '25

I literally moved my 401k from bonds back to stock when he won on the prospect of forced rates cuts and massive inflation. It is kind of backwards isn't it lol.

2

u/_Cri_WuLF_ Mar 04 '25

So how much have you lost so far? lol

3

u/loobear2357 Mar 04 '25

If you don’t plan of holding a stock for ten years don’t buy it” Peter Lynch

4

u/Paddy_Tanninger Mar 04 '25

That's adorable, and I really do wish I lived in a world where that's how stocks worked.

1

u/loobear2357 Mar 04 '25

That’s investing. Any kind of trading is gambling

1

u/Ok_Fix3639 Mar 04 '25

I feel like if you followed the campaign messaging and the individuals involved in the admin it was actually foreseeable that this would be chaotic. People didn’t take him seriously on the campaign trail.

6

u/VirtuaMcPolygon Mar 03 '25

I feel that investment was more strong arming Apple to do it over it being cost effective for the consumer

4

u/Index820 Mar 04 '25

Or to elect different officials

34

u/freebytes Mar 03 '25

The same factories that taken 5 to 10 years to build.

7

u/jasta85 Mar 04 '25

And that's if they decide to build them. Not many companies are going to invest in a factory when the next administration (or hell, the current administration) may just reverse all the tariffs in a few years.

4

u/capekin0 Mar 04 '25

You think there will be a next administration?

14

u/step1 Mar 04 '25

What do ya mean? Every small town has a massive abandoned factory. Just use that. It won't take long to bring up to code when there aren't any codes or pesky things like worker safety to worry about.

5

u/bullet4mv92 Mar 04 '25

It'll now take 10-15 years since Trump is deporting all the people that were willing to build them

9

u/litlegoblinjr Mar 03 '25

We have a concept of a plan these factories. Just waiting for the audit to be complete before they can be released 

4

u/alien_believer_42 Mar 03 '25

Like they give a shit about that. They're trying to sabotage Rivian's Georgia factory by pulling their DoE loan. So what even is the end goal

4

u/pagerussell Mar 03 '25

Wait, are there factories here?

Even if there are, they will just bump up their prices to match their competition because that's free profit margin.

4

u/Sudden-Emu-8218 Mar 03 '25

Well just get some factories up and running. Who wouldn’t invest millions in building a manufacturing operation that’s only viable based on the whims of a petulant child with near unchecked power

2

u/thekeifer Mar 03 '25

I mean we’ve got some, but we’re deporting half the people that work there, so….yolo?

1

u/thrakkerzog Mar 03 '25

You wouldn't know her, she's from Canada.

Oh no.

1

u/OkTie2851 Mar 03 '25

No factories. No walls neither.

1

u/Paddy_Tanninger Mar 03 '25

Not to fear, Dear Leader says factories will open almost immediately due to tariffs and that corporations will totally take wild multi-billion dollar risks on the chance that every 4 years Americans will vote in someone who is extremely regarded.

1

u/AgitatedStranger9698 Mar 03 '25

I mean planes and mid tier semiconductors. Lol....

1

u/cellardoorstuck Mar 03 '25

Just like every dollar store chain. I wonder how deep the supply chains go - it reminds me of the tripple A bonds housing market of US not so long ago.

1

u/unclefire Mar 03 '25

We don’t need “Canadian cars” or fruit/veg from Mexico. Nevermind that car are us auto makers and stuff crosses the border multiple times before it becomes a car. Good luck getting fruit and veg out of season in the US.

1

u/CommunityNumerous377 Mar 03 '25

I love this, consumers will be frugal and industry will starve

1

u/New_Simple_4531 Mar 03 '25

I wonder what a little trinket like a usb extension, which we usually get from China, would cost if made in America. 15 dollars? Its like a buck something on Aliexpress.

1

u/justwalk1234 Mar 03 '25

Those factories will need to buy their materials from American factories. America would need to build an entire supply chain from the ground up...

1

u/Revolution4u Mar 03 '25

He backtracked on that shipping loophole that lets temu and other chyna corps dump shit over here for cheap btw.

Total clown.

1

u/Shinsekai21 Mar 03 '25

This is why I hate black-white policies this tariffs

It’s true that by enforcing tariffs, you would encourage at-home products and create more jobs. But that would only works if we have some sort of manufacturing productions going on, or at least significant financially incentive for those companies.

And those things take time to materialize the result. They are praising that Honda is moving production back, which is of course a good thing. But before those American made Honda can come to market, we have to suffer many years of high price tag car.

You can’t slap tariffs and expect it to work immediately

1

u/ElfYamadaFairyQueen Mar 03 '25

All of these companies, these companies are failing and were going to welcome them and they will make everything here in America and then, you know what, they will be so successful. They will be stronger than ever and our economy will be stronger than ever, we will have such a beautiful economy I tell ya.

1

u/looking_good__ Mar 03 '25

I'm sure all domestic producers of steel and lumber will keep prices the same... Oh wait no they won't!!!

1

u/another-redditor3 Mar 03 '25

i was just in the conservative sub to see how theyre trying to justify this. fucktards are saying we should start clear cutting our national forests for lumber and resources. we have more than enough at home to support us if we do that....

1

u/d_rek Mar 03 '25

It’s fine. We’ll just import the factory and all the labor too.

1

u/Half_Cent Mar 03 '25

Yes. We are the 2nd largest manufacturer in the world. And most of those factories employ less than 100 people.

I know you are being sarcastic but most people don't know manufacturing output is the highest it's ever been.

It's the jobs that are never coming back. Ever. And anyone that says they are is lying.

1

u/SoWhatNoZitiNow Mar 03 '25

Lmao the sea of warehouses that my office is located in used to be manufacturing operations. They’re all 3PLs now. Gonna be interesting times ahead.

1

u/lemongrenade Mar 03 '25

I actually run an American factory (food/bev) no joke and we can’t find people as it is. If American manufacturing increased by like 10% there would be massive labor shortage and inflation of labor costs.

1

u/achilton1987 Mar 03 '25

To build a factory they will need to import the machines. To make the product they will need to import the materials.

1

u/nerf468 Mar 04 '25

I work in an industry that still does have a heavy manufacturing footprint in the US (petrochem) and the talk—at least that I’m hearing—is “how much can we bump prices while still remaining competitive with the newly increased landed cost of Chinese competition”.

1

u/Person899887 Mar 04 '25

Real “great leap forwards” type shit. “Hey let’s start suddenly doing a bunch of industry! Don’t mind a steady transition out of the old economy, just do industry! Invent industry! Make industry! You aren’t starving, you are doing industry now!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 04 '25

All the fired feds can be hired to build the factories, at 25% of their current pay. /s

1

u/rug1998 Mar 04 '25

Even if that’s the case, their cheaper competitors are now more expensive which means they can now increase their prices as well

1

u/GoofMonkeyBanana Mar 04 '25

They will just build factories in the USA so they won’t have tariffs. Should have them up and running by Saturday

1

u/Mean-Meringue-1173 Mar 04 '25

Surely it's profitable for companies to set up shop in the US and not have the products cost a ton more due to higher cost of raw materials, taxes and labour right? Even if every single factory made every single item 100% domestic, the cost can never be offset compared to what can be achieved by manufacturing it in a low income country with cheap labour. Y'all Americans are truly fucked.

1

u/VerySuperGenius Mar 04 '25

And don't you worry about food, Donald Trump's magical fertilizer will grow your crops overnight. Buy now for $99 or pay $4,747 for one of 100 bags signed by your favorite President, ME!!!

1

u/K128kevin Mar 04 '25

They do have an ample supply of all the goods imported, and don’t call me Shirley.

1

u/kenyard Mar 04 '25

Herro. I make vevvy amewican products. 100% You buy it now. Made merican factory

1

u/dismayhurta Mar 04 '25

How hard can it be to build a factory to make everything we need. 3…4 weeks?

1

u/mammogrammar Mar 04 '25

But the Republicans tell me there will be jobs to build these factories! That's winning, right?

1

u/NLight7 Mar 04 '25

Yea, this is as stupid as someone being like "I don't need no stores I'll make everything myself from scratch."

And you'll probably succeed with 1 or 2 things but fail miserably at keeping yourself alive.

1

u/-iamai- Mar 04 '25

I have a plan.. Bezos copies all good ideas from China going through his distribution centres. Converts the distribution centres into slave labor camps to make cheap knock-offs and sell back to the Chinese. Make 10 different websites you could call them Fish, Shiney, Emu whatever.

1

u/primusperegrinus Mar 04 '25

My company makes and buys parts both domestically and globally. We can get many, but not all of our parts from the US. It just has a 5x higher cost than China.

1

u/HoidToTheMoon Mar 04 '25

There are factories here. I was actually at one last week discussing how they'll continue operations if their imported timber from Canada sees a 25% price hike.

We're so cooked

1

u/Hydraulic_IT_Guy Mar 04 '25

It's ok, I loaded up on SQQQ the other day to save your market.

1

u/Bamith20 Mar 04 '25

Also incorrect slave.

You will get gruel purchased with your employer's very own currency that is only eligible at their stores.

1

u/Zealousideal-Hat-597 Mar 04 '25

Or we will just buy from Russia after sanctions are dropped

1

u/SouthernNanny Mar 04 '25

He just told farmers to hurry up and grow more food…sounds like a solid plan to me!

1

u/ahintoflimon Mar 04 '25

We have olive oil factories here in California, and grow a lot of olives here. Of course, that only works if we have water to grow them. 🙃

1

u/uLL27 Mar 04 '25

Are these factories in the room with us right now?

1

u/davehoff94 Mar 04 '25

These are universal tariffs. Which means they apply to raw resources companies would import to manufacture in America too lmao. It's regarded all the way down

1

u/Similar_Mood1659 Mar 04 '25

It's fine, we'll just create low paying factory jobs with our already low unemployment rate. I sure am glad we got those jobs back!

1

u/PitchBlack4 Mar 04 '25

Don't forget that the US makes almost no manufacturing machines. They are all European or Chinese.

1

u/Balgs Mar 04 '25

Be creative, just use 3d printers, or something

1

u/Relative-Outcome-294 Mar 04 '25

What are you talking about, dont you know china will pay the tariffs??? Hack

/s

1

u/Tylanthia Mar 04 '25

Time to invest in the Amish since they already know how to make everything they need.

1

u/barbrady123 Mar 04 '25

Well, first we gotta call up all our skilled factory workers and get them back to work. BRB gonna make some calls.

1

u/Pepperonidogfart Mar 04 '25

exactly. Tariffs are fine if we had any infrastructure for this but they want chaos so oligarchs can take over and put tolls on every aspect of your life.

1

u/Wild_Persimmon_7303 Mar 04 '25

How I do explain this to my bf and mom who refuse to believe that without us already have domestic supply and American factories this is going to be a disaster? They are huge supporters of this tariff

1

u/Meows2Feline Mar 04 '25

I work in American factory. Guess what county all our materials and office supplies and paper and machines and packaging come from?

2

u/Basis_404_ Mar 04 '25

Is it America? 🤞

-1

u/prestodigitarium Mar 03 '25

Well, first you have demand, then you have people who invest to meet that demand. But yeah, that supply/demand mismatch is painful for a bit.

6

u/Sudden-Emu-8218 Mar 03 '25

My guy. No one with money is investing in manufacturing that is only viable because of some tariffs that some overgrown man baby might change his mind about at any moment

0

u/prestodigitarium Mar 04 '25

Well, if Pax Americana is coming to an end, and we're going to start playing hardball with our allies, deglobalization seems like the natural result, tariffs just push more in that direction. Business leaders can't just take smooth international trade for granted anymore when planning supply chains.

5

u/Sudden-Emu-8218 Mar 04 '25

Why would this be the outcome rather than just electing someone sane in 4 years when the electorate is tired of being unemployed?

4

u/K1N6F15H Mar 04 '25

deglobalization seems like the natural result

Globalization is here to stay, even if Trump turns us into North Korea 2 the rest of the world will keep on trading.

4

u/DrakonAir8 Mar 03 '25

Painful for a bit? My brother in Christ, it will take at the very least 3 years to get those factories up and running and get goods to market. Agent 47 will either get his third term, or ride out into a west palm beach sunset.

I really hope that there is some master plan other than to buy the dip 😢.

0

u/prestodigitarium Mar 03 '25

Yeah, it was definitely an understatement, the US economy doesn't turn on a dime.

2

u/Expensive-Swan-9553 Mar 03 '25

Painful is a funny way to say negative GDP growth for several quarters. Lol

0

u/prestodigitarium Mar 03 '25

Well, that usually means there’s some real world hurt.

1

u/ZeekLTK Mar 04 '25

Except in this scenario, half way through building the factories, the rules change again and that "investment" is now worthless. Now you have a state of the art factory that no one works at and doesn't produce anything. Or you have a half completed factory that you stopped paying for midway through construction.

1

u/prestodigitarium Mar 04 '25

Sure, hopefully whoever comes next considers that before changing the rules again.

0

u/thepandaken Mar 04 '25

I get the sarcasm but how does nobody realize that this is not some kind of epic own, but instead a staggering admission that we desperately need to build up that infrastructure? It kind of proves him right when everyone is pretending like it's not a giant problem that China has our economy by the balls because we got addicted to cheap plastic junk

-2

u/InHaUse Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25

So how do we ever get production to come back and reverse the de-industrialization that has been happening since China, unfortunately, was allowed to join the WTO?

I'm not saying tariffs are the best way, but we have to start somewhere, and there will be pain the short-term.

6

u/StalinsLastStand Mar 03 '25

What do you think the breaking point will be that convinces manufacturers it’s a better investment to build a new manufacturing base in the US (at increased cost due to tariffs) than to wait for someone to run on relieving the short-term pain?

-3

u/InHaUse Mar 03 '25

I don't know man, all I know is it won't be easy and will require a "heavy handed" approach. At this point, I'm all for "radical" measures like printing a ton of cash and forcing companies to rapidly build factories here.

5

u/StalinsLastStand Mar 03 '25

Swell, please hold your breath until that happens.

2

u/Twisterpa Mar 04 '25

Holy shit- I died. I don’t know why I found this comment so funny.

2

u/Sidereel Mar 04 '25

Something like the CHIPS act. You can do this with subsidies, tax credits, and sometimes targeted tariffs.

What you don’t do it with is blanket tariffs. Even if you want to manufacture something in the US now you are paying tariffs to import goods and materials. And retaliatory tariffs are going to make exports non-competitive.

-4

u/Stanard- Mar 03 '25

We are currently the world's second manufacturer tho, and with this, we will build more of them.