Stocks A to Z / Stocks B / Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
No. of Recommendations: 12
*US PUBLISHES TARIFF EXCLUSIONS FOR SPECIFIED PRODUCTS *US TARIFF EXCLUSIONS APPLY TO COMPUTERS, SMARTPHONES *US TARIFF EXCLUSIONS ALSO APPLY TO CHIP-MAKING EQUIPMENT *TARIFF EXCLUSIONS APPLY TO SO-CALLED `RECIPROCAL' TARIFFS
I guess Tim Apple has been on the phone with Donald. 😬
*this is all so stupid
No. of Recommendations: 0
<
Smartphones and computers will be exempted from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
The guidance also includes exclusions for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar cells, flat panel TV displays, flash drives, memory cards and solid-state drives used for storing data.
>
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/12/trump-exempts-phon...It seems the more expensive items are excluded from tariffs. The cheaper ones have much higher added cost in percentage such as shipping, handling etc. The overall effect on inflation will be much less than the tariff numbers indicate.
No. of Recommendations: 31
The overall effect on inflation will be much less than the tariff numbers indicate.
As is the value of the tariff itself. What was the point of trashing the reputation of the US for nothing more than hot air?
IP
No. of Recommendations: 7
<As is the value of the tariff itself. What was the point of trashing the reputation of the US for nothing more than hot air?>
That's consistent with Trump's reputation. Unfortunately, it's now become the US's reputation.
No. of Recommendations: 3
What was the point of trashing the reputation of the US for nothing more than hot air?
Trump's life experience has been that people have a short term memory, and investors' greed always overcomes their reluctance to deal with a crooked businessman. Four (or six?) bankruptcies proved that. Reputation or loss thereof is overrated.
That has been his reality, can you really say he has been wrong?
No. of Recommendations: 1
"I guess Tim Apple has been on the phone with Donald. 😬"
Fotak et al., "The Political Economy of Tariff Exemption Grants", Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, CUP, Jan 2025:
We investigate whether firm-level political connections affect the allocation of exemptions from tariffs imposed on $US 550 billion of Chinese goods imported to the United States annually beginning in 2018. Evidence points to politicians not only rewarding supporters but also punishing opponents: Past campaign contributions to the party controlling (in opposition to) the executive branch increase (decrease) approval likelihood. Our findings point to quid pro quo arrangements between politicians and firms, as opposed to the “information” channel linking political access to regulatory outcomes.
The very public donation to Trump's inaugural committee may have been enough.
No. of Recommendations: 1
"I guess Tim Apple has been on the phone with Donald. 😬"
........
The very public donation to Trump's inaugural committee may have been enough.
Apple is hugh, is an economic factor in the US --- and is extremely hard hit because of those tariffs, more so than most firms, because of it's total dependency on China. Could it therefore not be that this exemption simply is a prudent rational decision, to give Apple time it urgently needs?
A different point: With Apple being still a big factor in Berkshire´s earnings (Is it? I am not current on this), it will be interesting to see whether that exemption wilk cause a strong upward move on Berkshire´s price next week.
No. of Recommendations: 19
Solar panels also suddenly, randomly showed up on today's list of exemptions, for now.
I bring it up because at just about the same time the exemptions were posted this morning, I was out back with an assistant planting some native species along the creek bank*. I gestured towards the solar array on the shop across the field and mentioned to him that I'd finally had a guy come out last week to discuss increasing the number of panels.
I said I had scheduled the meeting a couple of weeks ago, before any of this tariff nonsense, and as of this morning I suspected my response to the bid was going to hinge on whether I receive a pre-tariff quote or a post-tariff quote - and thus I was going to be a microcosm of the American economy this season.
(The pre-tariff bid will I think pencil out to a break-even of around a decade after factoring in the time value of money, the rate of rise of the cost per kwh over the last few years, anticipated consumer inflation, risk-free returns...but a post-tariff bid will probably be a nonstarter from a fiscal point of view <not to mention the unwillingness to fling thousands of dollars pointlessly into Lake Orange>)
Anyhow, it suddenly looks like the solar panel rep will still have a job next season, as I'll probably place the order.
Unless things change, I mean.
-- sutton
*riparian restoration. Blackberries are a noxious weed here, and I let them get out of control during the lock-down years. So, last fall we spent $$$ for a crew of laborers to pull them out of the riparian zone and pile them into a burn pile. We spent the winter digging out the ugliest of the crowns, and I'll be back there with a string trimmer on a regular basis all through the next 2-3 growing seasons.
Meanwhile, I bought a truckload of native plants in one-gallon buckets, and that's what we planted and caged today (while lighting off the now-dried burn piles at the same time). Salmon spawn in the creek each fall, and blackberry overgrowth leads to elevated water temps by crowding out the canopy-formers.
It occurred to me - now over a hundred man-hours and a few thousand dollars into the whole project - what a futile gesture it was. Two banks to the creek, forty miles dam to mouth, probably 2/3 of the creek flowing through private lands where very few landowners will address the blackberry issue and/or let their cattle trample the whole riparian zone into barren mud. My few hundred yards of creek bank are a rounding error by any measure - the same as can fairly be said for my abandoning of commercial flight under non-emergent circumstances, recycling everything recyclable, the purchase of a used EV (and used books), and carefully mowing around the milkweed.
But under any meaningful scale of space and time, every bloody thing we do can be made futile.
So as the man said, I got back to doing what I can, where I can, what I can.
(I'm pretty sick of those gd blackberry crowns, however.)
No. of Recommendations: 17
I guess Tim Apple has been on the phone with Donald.
Another possible explanation is that some of the old-school Republicans noted to the white house that there is a pain factor concern: other than a house or a car, an iPhone habit is probably the largest capital purchase for a lot of people. Make that unaffordable, and people will really squeal, perhaps even at the ballot box.
Jim
No. of Recommendations: 2
In the few days before China stroke back with 125% tariff, Trump and the treasury secretary gave signals that they were waiting for phone call from China and they would be gracious. It’s possible they actually plan to use the exclusions as a bargaining chip to gain something. Now the bluff has been called.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Meanwhile, I bought a truckload of native plants in one-gallon buckets, and that's what we planted and caged today (while lighting off the now-dried burn piles at the same time). Salmon spawn in the creek each fall, and blackberry overgrowth leads to elevated water temps by crowding out the canopy-formers.
It occurred to me - now over a hundred man-hours and a few thousand dollars into the whole project - what a futile gesture it was.
I wish you great luck with this project. Hopefully your creek is tamer than ours. We took down a wall of brambles, opening up a view I had no idea came with the property, which we had bought in full leaf. Unfortunately, also triggering a war with the "creek," (so named, but a good 40' wide and kayakable,)which continues to eat our frontage with every rain storm, putting large trees at risk. Anything I plant has no opportunity to set roots, even Rosa Rugosa, or Beach Rose, which is often used to counter erosion. We are in the mountains so bodies of water are prone to extreme floods. Son is actually in the process of getting certified in stream restoration through work, so perhaps our paying for that degree can finally be exploited by us.
Would love to hear updates on your progress if willing, and am sending this directly to you as well as on the board so that you will hopefully check your junk mail and reply off the boards.
IP
No. of Recommendations: 5
...other than a house or a car, an iPhone habit is probably the largest capital purchase for a lot of people. Make that unaffordable, and people will really squeal, perhaps even at the ballot box.
Not to mention that social media is important to the personal finances of DJT as well as ability to influence voters. No doubt he does not want to interfere in anyway with people accessing Truth Social, or X for that matter.
IP
No. of Recommendations: 0
I posted this elsewhere, if it's of any interest
https://www.ft.com/content/9038804f-cf69-4193-9332...
"... speaking on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Lutnick said products such as smartphones, laptops and wireless earphones that were offered a reprieve on Friday would be re-examined as part of a government probe into semiconductors, that could result in tariffs.
“What he’s doing is he’s saying they’re exempt from the reciprocal tariffs,” Lutnick said, referring to President Donald Trump. “But they’re included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two.” “Correct. That’s right . . . We need our medicines and we need semiconductors and our electronics to be built in America.”
Maybe Tim Apple needs to chat with Lutnick about Apple's planned $500billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/02/apple-will-...
The only certainty these days is uncertainty, I'll probably be writing some puts Monday as vol spikes yet again.
No. of Recommendations: 26
Another possible explanation is that some of the old-school Republicans noted to the white house that there is a pain factor concern: other than a house or a car, an iPhone habit is probably the largest capital purchase for a lot of people. Make that unaffordable, and people will really squeal, perhaps even at the ballot box.
I've got this image of Trump's brain as a ball in a pinball machine. He launches a really bad idea, and then he bounces around "bing bong bing bing" as various advisors explain the terrible consequences to him. Finally he lands back where he started, while flashing lights and sounds proclaim his success on a flashing scoreboard.
Elan
