Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcements sent global markets into a tizzy, although Wall Street has recovered all of its losses made during that Liberation Day week, and also turned positive on a year-to-date basis.
A US trade court has struck down the imposition of reciprocal tariffs by the Donald Trump administration on more than 60 countries starting April 2, calling them illegal.
Goldman Sachs has mentioned in its note on Thursday that the Trump Administration could have four other ways by which it could offset this court verdict, even before it heads to the Supreme Court for the next leg of the courtroom battle.
Here are some avenues highlighted by the global investment bank:
One such option is the use of “Section 122” of the Trade Act, 1974, which permits the President to impose tariffs of up to 15% to address a balance of payments deficit or to prevent an imminent and significant depreciation of the US dollar. Unlike other trade laws, Section 122 does not require a formal investigation, making it one of the swiftest tools at the administration’s disposal.
However, any tariffs enacted under this section can only last up to 150 days without further Congressional approval, the Goldman Sachs note said. Additionally, there is also no clarity on what happens next after the 150-day period ends.
Secondly, Goldman Sachs said that the Trump Administration could initiate fresh investigations against major trading partners using Section 301 of the US Trade Act, 1974.
Section 301 allows for retaliatory tariffs in response to unfair trade practices, and while it involves more procedural steps than Section 122, it provides broader and more enduring authority. There is no cap on the size or duration of tariffs under Section 301, although the investigations typically take weeks or months to conclude.
The third option, according to Goldman Sachs, includes an expansion of Section 232, under which tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in place under the rationale of national security.
While sector-specific tariffs have not been a recent focal point of the administration, officials may revisit them due to legal uncertainties surrounding broader, country-focused tariffs. Potential sectors under consideration for new tariffs include pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and electronics, for which, investigations are already ongoing.
Lastly, the Administration could also examine using Section 338 of the Trade Act of 1930. This rarely used provision permits the President to impose tariffs of up to 50% on imports from countries that engage in discriminatory practices against the US.
Unlike Section 301, Section 338 does not require a formal investigation, although it limits the magnitude of tariffs that can be imposed, Goldman Sachs said.
Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcements sent global markets into a tizzy, although Wall Street has recovered all of its losses made during that Liberation Day week, and also turned positive on a year-to-date basis.
These are stellar numbers. Wow! What a turnaround in trade! Big reduction in the trade deficit! Look for a nice upward revision in the GDP. GDP revisions can move up quite a lot.
In terms of the GDP revision math, there’s going to be a big lift, because of the reduction in the trade deficit, which will be offset by the smaller than expected build in wholesale and retail inventories. Macroeconomics 101.
PCE data look great. I’m not shilling for Trump, but these data look amazing. PCE growth back to mid-2021 levels.
Personal income up huge.
The Fed needs to lower rates post haste.
Core PCE Price Index (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 0.1% Cons: 0.1% Prev: 0.1%
Core PCE Price Index (YoY) (Apr)
Act: 2.5% Cons: 2.5% Prev: 2.7%
Goods Trade Balance (Apr)
Act: -87.62B Cons: -142.80B Prev: -162.25B
PCE Price index (YoY) (Apr)
Act: 2.1% Cons: 2.2% Prev: 2.3%
PCE price index (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 0.1% Cons: 0.1% Prev: 0.0%
Personal Income (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 0.8% Cons: 0.3% Prev: 0.7%
Personal Spending (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 0.2% Cons: 0.2% Prev: 0.7%
Real Personal Consumption (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 0.1% Cons: Prev: 0.7%
Retail Inventories Ex Auto (Apr)
Act: 0.3% Cons: Prev: 0.3%
Wholesale Inventories (MoM) (Apr)
Act: 0.0% Cons: 0.4% Prev: 0.4%
Stone, since a tariff is essentially a tax, is their anything in the “big beautiful bill” that gives Trump more latitude on maintaining his tariffs? I suspect he has another rabbit up his sleeve!
Reaching into the minds of Trump and his advisors, they have publicly stated how they want to terminate the IRS. One way to do that is to create such a massive gift to taxpayers in the form of lower taxes and exemptions that they need to make up for it somewhere else.
Theoretically, that comes from tariffs. I wouldn’t make anything more into this. Not every decision has a sinister motive.
However, it is incumbent that Trump and his economic team continue to follow through on its tariff objectives as this will offset the reduction in income tax revenue. Though the courts will try to undermine this, I still see much of it being promulgated. There are a number of routes the Trump regime can take to continue.
The fact that inflation growth continues to fall, and I know firsthand in the property management sector that this is the case, the pushback from Trump’s economic agenda will fade. Surprisingly, his approval numbers continue to move higher, despite all that we’re seeing.
This morning’s numbers only help his case.
As expected, GDP growth estimates just skyrocketed. Up from 2.2% to 3.8%.
This proves that protectionism to foster domestic production really works. So called free trade was a big con-job as the other countries would not reciprocate with free trade. Globalism is a big scam especially when there are a lot of colored people involved.
John 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Cain/Edom/Esau didn’t like hearing that.
The judicial ruling against tariffs is another attempt at many by the leftist judges to take over and run the government since Trump began his presidency. These rulings are clearly political. These attempts will render the USA government ineffective and inept as there is too much thwarting and countermoves.
The USA experiment is clearly failing because democracy does not work with a government that has too many different ethnic and racial groups with contrary and disparate interests that refuse to compromise. There are only two ways to deal with this:
a) Split up the country into jurisdictions with similar people.
b) Dictatorship where the disparate groups are forced to comply .
This is why African nations have dictatorships because the different tribes in the country cannot agree and work together.
It’s not just the Africans who sometimes end up in dictatorships to mush together disparate groups. The old Yugoslavia comes to mind. After Tito died – boom – balkanization along religious lines and we ended up with 5 or 6 new (actually old) countries.
The blacks however cannot plan their way out of a paper bag which is why their modern countries look the way they do. The countries of old Yugoslavia have made or are in the process of making a good go of it. Croatia and Slovenia are but two examples and Bosnia and Herzegovina are likely going to do well in the near future. I went there on a day tour out of Dubrovnik and saw lots of arable land, water and supposedly they have lots of minerals. As to the ethnic hatreds….exceeded only by the jews and the arabs.
There is absolutely nothing to be gained by associating with blacks in any capacity. Any neighborhood in which they have a large presence is in disrepair and crime ridden. I drive up and down the beltway in PG County and the drivers are extremely aggressive and hostile. I look at the guardrails and they are all mangled, because of accidents. I just drove up and down the PG beltway yesterday and the amount of damage on the highway is mind blowing. You would never know that DC was next door. This never goes on in Fairfax County.
Black tenants are much more difficult to deal with, they are entitled, and in order for a white landlord to continue renting to Black tenants, he has to charge below market rent or he’ll be looked upon as a racist.
As I get older, I see the benefits of dealing with like kind people. I’m a mutt of Northern and Western European origin. I feel much more at ease dealing with like kind people.
If I grew up in Bulgaria, I’d feel much more comfortable dealing with Bulgarians.
Life is much easier when we deal with like kind people. The Bible is clear on this. Only the whorehouse judeo-christian and Catholic Universal churches say otherwise.
There is also nothing to be gained by doing business with the Chinese. They will cheat whenever they can get away with it. Trump is quickly waking up to that fact.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/30/trump-china-tariffs-trade-futures.html
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/national-news/historic-u-s-imports-fell-19-8-in-april-never-happened-before-china-trade-talks-stalled
Stick with like kind.
All warfare is based on deception.
M2 keeps chugging along. Moving higher with asset prices. I do notice that M2 velocity has turned lower, which reflects a fading inflation growth rate.