XPost: misc.consumers, alt.politics.trump, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   A day after signing steep new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China,   
   President Donald Trump acknowledged what economists, members of Congress   
   and even some of his own aides — in their previous lives — have been   
   saying all along: Americans may find themselves paying the costs.   
      
   “THIS WILL BE THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA! WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN? YES,   
   MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!),” Trump posted, in all capital letters, on his   
   Truth Social platform.   
      
   The message, which appeared in the hour before Trump arrived to his West   
   Palm Beach, Florida, golf club for the second day in a row, amounted to an   
   advance warning. Trump is serious about fulfilling his campaign promises   
   to end illegal immigration, curb the flow of deadly drugs and rebalance   
   continental trade.   
      
   But doing so will be uncomfortable, Trump is suggesting, and could serve   
   to undermine another of his top campaign vows: lowering costs for   
   Americans.   
      
   “WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT   
   MUST BE PAID,” Trump wrote. “WE ARE A COUNTRY THAT IS NOW BEING RUN WITH   
   COMMON SENSE — AND THE RESULTS WILL BE SPECTACULAR!!!”   
      
   Instead of the new trade war lowering grocery or fuel prices, Trump on   
   Sunday pointed to a result he never mentioned when he was running for   
   president: annexing Canada as an American state.   
      
   “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far   
   better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!” he   
   said, repeating an idea he’s floated repeatedly since winning the election   
   late last year.   
      
   As industries brace for the new tariffs — 25% on goods from Mexico and   
   Canada, and 10% on imports from China — it remains to be seen how long it   
   will take for higher costs to have an impact on American consumers. The   
   tariffs are set to go into effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. ET.   
      
   In a tacit acknowledgement that upside pressures could affect Americans’   
   gas and heating costs, Trump levied only a 10% tariff on Canadian oil and   
   gas.   
      
   Already, Canada and Mexico have moved to retaliate — reluctantly, in the   
   case of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said during a somber address   
   from Ottawa late Saturday: “We don’t want to be here.”   
      
   Canada’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland, who is running to   
   replace Trudeau as prime minister, said her country would rather not get   
   into a trade war with the US but is determined to stand up for itself.   
      
   “We don’t want to have this fight, but we are not going to lose it,” she   
   told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, calling it a “lose-lose” situation   
   that will end up hurting Americans, since they depend on Canada for many   
   basic goods.   
      
   If the back-and-forth tariffs remain in place for a prolonged period, the   
   “pain” Trump warned of could become a reality.   
      
   Sen. Tim Kaine argued Sunday on “State of the Union” that Americans will   
   see increased prices at the pump within days and that American businesses   
   will be harmed once the other nations’ retaliatory tariffs kick in.   
      
   “I’m struck by the irony. Last week, the president signed an emergency   
   order regarding energy. There’s an energy emergency. And he just put a 10%   
   tariff on energy from Canada?” the Virginia Democrat told CNN’s Jake   
   Tapper, adding, “The emergency is self-created.”   
      
   Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky, which Trump won by more than 30   
   percentage points in the 2024 election, warned of the potential impacts on   
   the state’s bourbon industry after the provinces of British Columbia and   
   Ontario directed their liquor boards to remove American alcohol from   
   shelves.   
      
   But even some Trump allies have privately hoped that after implementing   
   the harsh new duties — and proving to the world he’s willing to act   
   decisively — Trump could eventually ease up, as long as he’s extracted   
   some concessions.   
      
   Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, told “Fox News Sunday”   
   that the tariffs “are designed to bring about change. And if the change   
   comes, I think the tariffs probably go away.”   
      
   What exactly those concessions might be, however, isn’t clear. Before   
   implementing the tariffs, Trump did not meet or speak on the telephone   
   with Trudeau or with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to spell out his   
   demands.   
      
   Trudeau said Saturday he’d been trying to reach Trump since the   
   inauguration, but his calls have not been returned.   
      
   Briefing reporters Saturday evening, White House officials declined to lay   
   out specific benchmarks that Canada or Mexico could reach in tightening   
   their borders or curbing fentanyl flows that would allow the tariffs to be   
   lifted.   
      
   And Trump himself told reporters late Friday he wasn’t looking for any   
   concessions at all. In his social media posting Sunday morning, his   
   rationale for the tariffs extended well beyond punishment for the illicit   
   flow of fentanyl.   
      
   “The USA has major deficits with Canada, Mexico, and China (and almost all   
   countries!), owes 36 Trillion Dollars, and we’re not going to be the   
   ‘Stupid Country’ any longer,” he wrote. “MAKE YOUR PRODUCT IN THE USA AND   
   THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!”   
      
   This story has been updated with new reporting.   
      
   https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/02/politics/us-tariffs-americans-pay-   
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