Trump’s tariffs are tanking global markets. Trillions of dollars of national wealth have been lost since Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs. However, the stock market losses do not account for the very real pain that large frum families will begin to feel once the tariffs kick in on April 9th. It will take some time to feel the pinch, but it will come unless these tariffs are stopped. A frum supermarket in Miami told a local news station to expect price increases of twenty-five percent. All food imported from Israel will be taxed at an additional seventeen percent. The Yale Budget Lab projects increased costs of $3,800 for an average American family. Large frum families can expect to see increases of $10,000 annually.
Tariffs hit middle-income families the hardest. Middle-income frum families spend most, if not all, of their earnings on consumption. Increased costs of food and clothing will hit our community hard. Unlike income taxes, tariff taxes do not have income brackets, credits, or deductions.
Pro-Trump business leaders such as Bill Ackman and Jamie Dimon have warned of an “economic nuclear winter” if the tariffs stay in place. Elon Musk has blasted Trump economic advisor Peter Navarro over his support for tariffs. Conservatives like former Vice President Mike Pence and talk show host Ben Shapiro have warned about how damaging tariffs will be to the American economy.
Trump’s tariffs are not based on reciprocity, but on faulty and crude calculations of trade deficits. That is why poor or small countries that are incapable of buying American goods on the scale of American consumers are being taxed so high. Trade deficits do not account for services or tourism, where America is a leader. Much of the world spends more tourism dollars in Florida than Americans spend in their countries. Furthermore, a trade deficit is not indicative of being ripped off. Most consumers have a trade deficit with Walmart, but it would be foolish to stop buying things at Walmart and insist on making them ourselves. North Korea would be a prime example of a self-sufficient economy with minimal imports, and it is by no means an example of economic prosperity.
Trump argues that tariffs will bring back American manufacturing. However, this claim is dubious, as American companies will lose their preferred export status to other countries and will be taxed on any parts that they import. Stellantis has already laid off workers in Michigan. Furthermore, our frum economy will not benefit from assembly-line jobs in Michigan and Kentucky. Even if some jobs come back, the price of products produced in America without competition from other countries will cause prices to skyrocket.
The situation is dire, but there is some small hope. Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) and Representative Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) have cosponsored bi-partisan legislation to remove the power of unilateral tariffs from the executive branch and return it to Congress, where it belongs. This bill mirrors the bi-partisan bill introduced in the Senate by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Please call your representative and ask them to support this important legislation. Rep. Chris Smith can be reached at (202) 225-3765, Rep Mike Lawler can be reached at (202) 225-6506, and Nicole Malliotakis can be reached at (202) 225-3371.
Signed,
A Concerned Yid
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28 Responses
You get the GOOD (Best POTUS policy on Antisemitism / Israel’s security that I can recall) and the BAD (Tarrifs are indeed a wrecking ball for the near term, even if they potentialy might be beneficial long term). You want PERFECT? It does not currently exist. Pray for Mashiach!
Hashem will just send us appropriate parnuseh according to any shifting economic realities.
The real kefira of this letter is the lack of “torah, tshiva, tzedukeh” as the correct hishtadlis to change a bad decree.
This morning I spoke to a relative who manufactures baby clothing in China. She said something that cost now $20 will have to cost at least $40 when I asked what she plans on doing she replied, “ that she heard in a shiur that each person has their own personal golus and geula on Pesach so she’s not thinking about it until after yomtov”
Baloney
It will not hurt the Frum oilem and especially the gur Frum oilem.
The average working Frum family is being taxed like crazy. Tuition kills every Frum family. Sending daughters to seminaries overseas costs 30 thousand plus. Fathers are dying of sudden heart attacks. The so called kosher nosh produced in India and Asian countries are full of ingredients that are making our kids full of anxiety problems. Instead of eating health fresh food they are overwhelmed by imported non nutritional junk. The medications cheap as they may be coming from all these third world countries cannot be trusted. Trump knows what he is doing. He wants to force the American pharmaceutical companies to be in line with prices of other countries. The money saved by America not paying Tariffs to other countries will do away with income taxes. So many Frum families paying taxes through the nose. Yes some greedy rich billionaires will scream but what about all our non billionaire Frum yiddden. Don’t forget china needs us more than we need them. They have tens of millions of their people working 18 hours a day for a dollar. They sleep at their job sites on layers of bunk beds. If they can’t sell to America the quantity that Americans buy they have to fire all those millions of workers. Let’s not underestimate Trump. Many heimisha millionaire businessmen agree with his strategy. Most of the billionaires who will lose out are all reform Jews. They won’t be able to support their empty Temples and will sell it at a low cost price to yeshivas and orthodox shuls as we have seen all over from Boro park to Lakewood. Don’t like stem to the fake news and secular crowd who are no friends of our gur heimisha community.
As an Israeli consumer, I would like to point out that buying American food products (I wouldn’t even know about clothes and other such things) is prohibitively expensive. As such, the more readily available Israeli alternative is often much poorer quality without the incentive of competition to improve. Perhaps if both countries decide to stop the trade bickering, American food products will finally become affordable to the Israeli consumer.
The article is Rubbish!
1. Tariffs on imported agricultural products and processed food (to the US from elsewhere, particularly Israel) can be minimized by substituting American goods or doing without. That would require kosher food companies to manufacture their goods in the US, which is not a problem. Some items need to be imported, such as esrogim, but in the long run they could be grown in the United States.
2. Frum Jews prefer large cars, which tend to be produced in the United States. The small cars (useful for the unmarried or as a “second” car), would require switching to “used”. Many electronic goods (such as new Smartphones) can be done without. Stores specializing in imported good (e.g. B&H) may have a problem. Countries passing retaliatory tariffs (which are paid by their own citizens) will hurt the American economy overall, .
3. An overall recession would not “worse” for frum Jews than for anyone else. The worst effect is that Trump/MAGA Republicans who are friendly to Israel and Jews will be discredited for tanking the economy, and an anti-Semitic Democrat (especially if from the pro-Hamas Progressive Wing) may be the next President, and he/she will have a Congress that will pass legislation that will hurt us.
I think Trump has done enough good things for us and has earned enough capital with our community that we can wait a little longer before rushing to judgment.
Don’t worry. Bez”H Trump will negotiate with the various countries, come to some type of agreement, declare victory and move on to the next big thing.
“Please call your representative”
My representative is HKB”H and only He knows what’s best for me/us.
Heimishe Guy: Your post entirely misses the point. If your life is expensive with Seminary tuition and taxes it will only get worse with tariffs. Making everyone else suffer won’t solve your problems.
Haha, Jews for TRUMP, eat your cake!
Obama was an antisemite for the Iran deal? Now eat your cake. FOOLS!
Some replies still can’t call the devil by his name, SHAME!
Apukerma
1) Much kosher food is imported from Israel, meats from Uruguay and other countries. Produce comes from Mexico and South America. We can’t grown our own bananas and coffee beans in this country.
2) Large cars? Are you kidding? Do you think Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey are American companies? Have you seen anyone driving an American minivan?
3) A recession is bad for all. A consumption tax is worse for large families that spend more. Read the article
Prices have already nearly doubled over the past four years while the government either looked the other way or outright denied it was happening. Now those same people are suddenly warning that tariffs will cause inflation? They were wrong then, and there’s a good chance they’re wrong again.
Also, price increases alone don’t tell the full story. What actually matters is the relationship between wages and prices. If wages rise too, families can still come out ahead. Trump is focusing on rebuilding American industries and raising wages, not just keeping prices low by relying on cheap imports.
The way to fix the damage of the past four years isn’t by hoping prices drop, which usually only happens during a recession. It’s by pushing wages higher and bringing back good-paying jobs. That’s what Trump is trying to do. Let’s wait and see before jumping to more bad predictions.
100% correct. Frum companies rely heavily on imports, especially from China. These tariffs are a big gezeira on Klal Yisroel & we need big rachmei shomayim.
ARNP: Economics is not the science of wishful thinking. Prices rose over the past years because of COVID bottle necks and wasteful PPP spending (much of which happened under Trump). Inflation rates actually came down to their target range of 2.8% under the last year of Biden. Your claim that the government looked the other way or did not care is just a blatant falsehood. In any case rising wages equal higher inflation as the costs associated with producing products rises. When tariffs are slapped on every import every import becomes more expensive. It is not rocket science. The difference between tariff inflation and COVID inflation is that the the tariff consumption tax is being done willfully with a flagrant disregard for the lives and well being of so many.
Bottom line is Trump is correct. Why should we pay high tariffs to other countries and they pay less to us. What’s fair is fair. Trump is right. He is a businessman so let him do his thing. Liberals and democRaTs poured billions into climate change from taxpayers money. That’s why your food and products went up in price. Now Trump is cutting all these liberal insane anti Torah agendas funding. He is looking to help yeshivas and middle class people. Don’t be fooled by these fake news lyers. They are all perverted liberal haters of religious Jews. Tariffs are great. Remember that.
He can balance it by lowering the income tax which also affects the middle class most
@crazykanoiy – The Toyota Sienna is manufactured in Indiana, and the Honda Odyssey in Alabama – both in the US. There could well be parts that are imported, but they’re really no different from any “US-brand” cars.
Google is your friend 🙂
an Israeli Yid
Great example of how foolish and harmful Trump’s tariffs are. Trump slapped massive tariffs on Madagascar. That is because the US buys lots of vanilla from Madagascar but the poor people in Madagascar cannot afford US products. So now we will all be paying more for vanilla because Madagascar is “ripping us off”. The good news is that we may all soon have “great jobs screwing small screws into iPhones” as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently boasted.
Wow
This has aged bad and fast
The letter writer fails to mention an even greater threat posed by these tarrifs that many bank CEO’s are warning of. And that is it will push the entire economy into a recession, so not only will things cost more, people will be earning allot less money to be able to pay for those more expensive things.
Nice to see that Trump caved and listened to wiser minds like Bill Ackman and David Portnoy. The threat of EU retaliatory measures probably scared him as well. The 90 day pause on a reckless and policy is good but it is not enough. People like Lutnick and Navarro must go. Especially since they were both lying for the past week.
it will not effect the frum anymore than it would effect anyone else.
Frum Jews are safe because food coming from these far out countries cost more than local kashrut mashgichim. We will save money with Trumps plan.
Trump has made a fool of himself yet again. A least he has enough brains to pull back before he triggered a bond market collapse. There is no logic to his tariffs on penguins, Vietnam, and Madagascar. He is out of control and hurting all senselessly. No company can invest in this insane unstable environment. Frum yidden will suffer more than others if after 90 days he starts this up again. And BTW the China tariffs will harm us all. Say good bye to cheap shoes, clothing etc.
@crazykanoiy You’re right that economics isn’t about wishful thinking, which is exactly why we need to look at the full picture. COVID disruptions played a role in inflation, but the nonstop government spending, extended stimulus packages, and artificially low interest rates made it much worse. PPP may have started under Trump, but the spending didn’t stop there. Biden kept the money flowing long after the immediate crisis was over.
Saying inflation is under control now just means prices are not rising as quickly. It does not undo the fact that families are still paying way more than they were four years ago. That is not something to celebrate.
As for wages, higher wages do not automatically cause harmful inflation. It depends on where the growth is coming from. If jobs return to the U.S. and productivity increases, then wages can rise in a healthy and sustainable way. Tariffs might raise prices at first, but they can also help rebuild American industries and reduce our dependence on foreign goods in the long run.
The status quo left a lot of working families struggling while cheap imports benefited the top. It is fair to debate the impact of tariffs, but pretending the old system worked for everyone just ignores reality.
Trump is afraid of nothing and thus he does what he thinks is smart. He does not care about anyone; just Trump!
Toyota actually builds their cars to be sold in the U.S.A. in America. Will those cars be taxed?