Reader TTS

Last week President Trump increased tariffs on Chinese goods entering the US. Today China retaliated. Now the ball is back in our court:

The U.S. is looking to up the stakes further with the office of the U.S. Trade Representative also planning on Monday to announce details of an even larger tranche of tariffs on China’s

goods than the one imposed last week.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a statement Friday that the president has ordered all remaining imports from China that aren’t yet subject to duties to face the

tariffs….The office of the USTR will publish details of the next tariff increase on its website Monday “as we begin the process prior to a final decision on these tariffs,” the statement

said.

I’ve long figured that the real test here is whether Trump is willing to raise tariffs on iPhones to 25 percent. What would happen then? Would Apple just eat the extra taxes and keep its

price the same? Or would the price of iPhones be raised by some amount?

This whole trade war seems sort of distant to most people who aren’t farmers, but 25 percent tariffs on consumer goods from China would suddenly get everyone’s attention. I guess we’ll know

in a couple of months.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends

to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes

to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real

difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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