President Donald Trump and his administration keep making adjustments to planned tariffs due to pushback from businesses and other countries.
So, what will ultimately happen?
Will Trump back off? Will he push ahead? Find a middle ground? Postpone tariffs to a later date?
It seems that all options are on the table, and as frustrating as this is as a consumer, I cannot imagine how frustrating this must be to car companies. Especially since car companies are planning new models YEARS in advance and cannot shift production from one plant quickly or easily. Nor is it necessarily easy to switch component suppliers.
Now I am asking you to look into your crystal balls. Pretend you’re an industry analyst and you need to write a report for anxious clients and predict what will happen.
Please keep this nice — I know this is a divisive topic in a divided political world, and I’d rather not be deleting comments and/or banning folks for breaking the rules. If you disagree with a fellow commenter, do so civilly. Hold the insults.
As for my own answer to this QOTD, I have no idea. Part of me thinks Trump, who seems convinced (against almost all economists’ advice) that tariffs will get manufacturing moved back to America, will plow ahead. Another part of me thinks that some of his advisers will either convince Trump that tariffs are likely to be bad for consumers and/or that tariffs will be bad for his political prospects. Or maybe pushback from companies, countries, and consumers will achieve that.
I honestly don’t know. What say you?
Sound off below.
[Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com]
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