There are good reasons to include the term “Information Battles” in the headline before we dive into the main topic of tariffs. If not for the association of the term with a particular and controversial website, perhaps the better terminology than “Information Battles” may be “InfoWars.” For well over a century, the United States of America (USA) and much of the world have demonstrably been subjected to a barrage of claims that are routinely driven by special interest groups seeking to influence the public in nominally “democratic” or “republican” societies where voting and “free market” economic activities occur. As this writer for MHProNews, MHLivingNews, and the “Reality Check” series for the Patch has referenced several times, individuals like Edward Bernay (1891–1995), Edward Herman (1925-2017), and Noam Chomsky (1928 to present; note that the later two clearly from the political left) have been telling those who will listen or read how “consent” is often “manufactured” in the U.S. (and elsewhere too). Let’s briefly note those three men were (or are in Chomsky’s case) engaged in influence peddling. What amounts to propaganda led the U.S. into over two decades of Middle Eastern Wars and the conflict in Afghanistan. That’s not mere opinion, that is a sobering evidenced-grounded series of facts. Just as what we will call for the moment agenda-driven propaganda led the U.S. into wars with Spain, into World Wars I and II, into the Vietnam conflict and so on, so too there are InfoWars directed at the population in the hopes of rallying most people on this or that side of the issue of tariffs, on immigration (legal or illegal), on federal spending, and a host of issues that clearly impacts our profession (the diminished manufactured housing industry, a.k.a.: MHVille) and all others in America.
The point? We as citizens that seek to be properly informed by reality vs. propaganda ought to begin almost any subject with the clear understanding that massive amounts of propaganda or influence-peddling are at work.
As this facts-evidence-analysis (FEA) will outline, trillions of dollars are at stake. The future of the middle class, working class, and retirees in the U.S.A and beyond are hanging in the balance. The so-called one percent and their allies are not going to merely accept a reshuffling of the rigged deck by President Trump and his MAGA/America First allies lightly. So, it was and is to be expected that stock and commodity markets will be roiled, and that fear porn will be used in large doses to get those who knew that tariffs were coming to perhaps rethink their value, necessity, or importance.
MHProNews has demonstrably led the charge in the manufactured housing industry for years on the importance of understanding the interconnected impacts of subjects like immigration and trade policy. While trade policy reporting on this platform has often focused on the obvious contest between the U.S. and China, given the volume of imports from that communist nation into the U.S., including but not limited to our manufactured home profession. There has been a short-term tradeoff between ‘cheaper goods’ coming from other countries weighed against the cost of lost jobs that often-paid higher wages here in the U.S. While media often separates topics like tariffs, imports, the steady erosion of the middle class, and immigration policies as if it were natural to do so, the reality is that those and other subjects are interconnected. There are reasons why the so-called 1 percent, or top ten percent, in the U.S. has advanced in wealth while the bottom half of the country has been suppressed in their earning potential. It was only briefly under the first Trump term in office that the income of Americans exceeded the effects of inflation in the 21st century. Trump has never been a typical Republican, nor was he a typical Democrat, but that is another topic for another time. It is policies that need to be examined, and while personalities and people clearly matter, we have all dealt with those that we may or may not like but who for whatever reasons were good for our personal interests.
To dig into some historical insights on the trade and tariff topics, let’s turn to the following articles provided by the Daily Signal (in Part I) and the Daily Torch (in Part II) to MHProNews. Then, more facts-evidence and analysis (FEA) will be provided by MHProNews in Part III, including a pair of tweaks to the observations made by those otherwise useful reports, plus support for remarks in this preface.
With that plan of action for this article, let’s dive into the following items related to the headline subject.
Part I
Commentary
Other Countries Seem to Like Tariffs. So Why Are People Opposed to Trump’s Tariffs?
Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.
Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. April 3, President Donald Trump announced it as “Liberation Day.” And by that he meant we were going to be liberated from asymmetrical tariffs of the last 50 years. And it was going to inaugurate a new what he called “golden age” of trade parity, greater investment in the United States, but mostly, greater job opportunities and higher-paying jobs for Americans.
And yet, the world seemed to erupt in anger. It was very strange. Even people on the libertarian right and, of course, the left were very angry. The Wall Street Journal pilloried Donald Trump.
But here’s my question. China has prohibitive tariffs, so does Vietnam, so does Mexico, so does Europe. So do a lot of countries. So does India. But if tariffs are so destructive of their economies, why is China booming? How did India become an economic powerhouse when it has these exorbitant tariffs on American imports? How did Vietnam, of all places, become such a different country even though it has these prohibitive tariffs? Why isn’t Germany, before its energy problems, why wasn’t it a wreck? It’s got tariffs on almost everything that we send them. How is the EU even functioning with these tariffs?
I thought tariffs destroyed an economy, but they seem to like them. And they’re angry that they’re no longer asymmetrical. Apparently, people who are tariffing us think tariffs improve their economy. Maybe they’re right. I don’t know.
The second thing is, why would you get angry at the person who is reacting to the asymmetrical tariff and not the people who inaugurated the tariff?
Why is Canada mad at us when it’s running a $63 billion surplus and it has tariffs on some American products at 250%. Doesn’t it seem like the people who started this asymmetrical—if I could use the word—trade war should be the culpable people, not the people who are reluctantly reacting to it?
Sort of like Ukraine and Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine. Do we blame Ukraine for defending itself and trying to reciprocate? No, we don’t. We don’t blame America because it finally woke up and said, “Whatever they tariff us we’re gonna tariff them.” Which brings up another question: Are our tariffs really tariffs?
That is, were they preemptive? Were they leveled against countries that had no tariffs against us? Were they punitive? No. They’re almost leveled on autopilot. Whatever a particular country tariffs us, we reciprocate and just mirror image them. And they go off anytime that country says, “It was a mistake. We’re sorry. You’re an ally. You’re a neutral. We’re not going to tariff this American product.” And we say, “Fine.” Then the autopilot ceases and the automatic tariff ends. In other words, it’s their choice, not ours. We’re just reacting to what they did, not what we did.
Couple of other questions that I’ve had. We haven’t run a trade surplus since 1975—50 years. So, it wasn’t suddenly we woke up and said, “It’s unfair. We want commercial justice.” No. We’ve been watching this happen. For 50 years it’s been going on. And no president, no administration, no Congress in the past has done anything about it. Done anything about what? Leveling tariffs on our products that we don’t level on theirs.
It was all predicated in the postwar period. We were so affluent, so powerful—Europe, China, Russia were in shambles—that we had to take up the burdens of reviving the economy by taking great trade deficits. Fifty years later, we have been deindustrialized. And the countries who did this to us, by these unfair and asymmetrical tariffs, did not fall apart. They did not self-destruct. They apparently thought it was in their self-interest. And if anybody calibrates the recent gross domestic product growth of India or Taiwan or South Korea or Japan, they seem to have some logic to it.
There’s a final irony. The people who are warning us most vehemently about this tariff quote the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930. But remember something, that came after the onset of the Depression—after. The stock market crashed in 1929. That law was not passed until 1930. It was not really amplified until ’31.
And here’s the other thing that they were, conveniently, not reminded of: We were running a surplus. That was a preemptive punitive tariff, on our part, against other countries. We had a trade surplus. And it was not 10% or 20%. Some of the tariffs were 40% and 50%. And again, it happened after the collapse of the stock market.
In conclusion, don’t you find it very ironic that Wall Street is blaming the Trump tariffs for heading us into a recession, if not depression, when the only great depression we’ve ever had was not caused by tariffs but by Wall Street?
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.
—
Victor Davis Hanson, a senior contributor for The Daily Signal, is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and author of the book “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won.
—
Part II – Commodities, Interest Rates Collapse After President Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs Announcement. Didn’t Democrats Say Prices Were Supposed to Go Up?
Commodities prices and interest rates collapsed across the board following President Donald Trump’s April 2 announcement of reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trade partners despite Congressional Democrats’ predictions that inflation would increase as a result of the tariffs.
Crude oil went from $72.22 prior to the announcement down to $66.12 per barrel as of this writing, a 8.4 percent decrease.
Hot rolled coil steel’s June contracts went from $822 to $817 per short ton, a 0.6 percent decrease.
Wheat went from 540’0 cents per bushel to 539’0, a 0.2 percent decrease.
Corn started at 458’4 cents per bushel, dropped very significantly to 450’4, but has recovered to 460’4, a slight 0.4 percent increase, relatively unchanged.
Gold went from $3,133.30 an ounce down to $3,069.80, a 2 percent decrease.
Silver went from $34.64 an ounce down to $32.11, a 7.3 percent decrease.
Live cattle from 207.35 cents per pound down to $205.67, a 0.8 percent decrease.
Soybeans went from 1025’0 cents per bushel down to 1007’4, a 1.7 percent decrease.
It’s across the board for the most part. There are some exceptions. Natural gas, for which demand including for electricity remains high, edged up slightly from $4.076 per MMBtu to $4.146, a 1.7 percent increase.
But we can see the overall trend is actually lower prices, not higher prices. The reaction to tariffs is not to buy and bid up commodities, increasing inflation, it’s the opposite which is to sell them. Keep that in mind.
And it is happening to interest rates — another very reliable gauge of inflation expectations — with 10-year treasuries dropped from 4.2 percent to 4.01 percent. 2-year treasuries did the same thing, falling from 3.91 percent prior to the announcement down to 3.72 percent.
All this is the exact opposite of what Democrats were predicting would happen as a result of the tariffs.
On just March 2, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) boldly predicted, “President Trump’s tariffs are going to raise prices on families by as much as $1,200 per year.”
On March 11, just yesterday, Schumer declared, “inflation has gone up under Donald Trump, from groceries to retail to cars.” (See below: Both groceries and cars didn’t experience any price increases in February, the first full month of Trump’s presidency.)
On Feb. 1, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) similarly suggested that prices would go up, stating, “The tariffs imposed by the administration and strongly supported by House Republicans will not lower the high cost of living for everyday Americans. Instead, it will likely do the exact opposite and make life more expensive.”
On March 3, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also projected price hikes, saying, “Donald Trump promised on ‘Day 1’ to lower costs, but instead working families now have to worry about giant corporations using his haphazard tariff announcements as an excuse to raise prices – and the Trump Administration has no plan to stop it.”
None of it was true, though. In February, consumer inflation dropped from 3 percent annualized in January to 2.8 percent, according to the latest data by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Now, with commodities and interest rates and therefore future inflation expectations dropping, what does everyone think will happen with inflation going forward?
Generally, trade partners will certainly respond in kind and besides tariffs, another way to guarantee that outcome is to weaken their currencies — so-called currency manipulation — in order to boost exports to the United States.
China is already doing it again. In mid-March the exchange rate of the yuan to the dollar was .1383, now it’s down .1376, not much but that is a 0.5 percent depreciation.
Other trade partners will eventually follow suit, especially if their export economies suffer in the short term under the weight of the tariffs. Their economy will slow down and they’ll weaken their currencies in response to get a boost. Bet on it.
That will make the U.S. dollar stronger ultimately.
And prices will go down thanks to the inverse relationship between the dollar and commodities, too, with a strong dollar correlating with lower commodities prices and a weak dollar correlating to higher commodities prices.
Asset prices are dropping for equities and cryptocurrencies, too. When money is withdrawn from assets whether it be stocks, crypto or commodities and put into bonds, prices go down!
This has generally been true historically, too. For example, the Great Depression is often wrongly blamed on tariffs. It’s wrong, the issues had to do with competitive currency devaluations as economies came off the interwar gold standard, but let’s roll with the hypothesis. The problem in the Great Depression wasn’t inflation, it was deflation. Prices were falling.
So, do tariffs cause inflation or deflation? Myopic pundits might try to dissemble and say both. They should make up their minds.
The answer is actually neither. As Milton Friedman always taught “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon…” or an increase in the money supply beyond production. Tariffs neither cause nor prevent money printing. Central banks do that all by themselves.
Maybe what’s really happening is whatever negative news there happens to be, investors and their mouthpieces will just ascribe that to tariffs. But good luck changing people’s expectations from what they’ve been spoon-fed for three months.
The American people were told prices would go up with tariffs — and they’re going down. Who could have foreseen such a likely outcome?
Robert Romano is the Executive Director of Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
Part III – Additional Information with More MHProNews Analysis and Commentary
In no particular order of importance are the following.
1) Victor Davis Hanson (VDH) used a style of commentary that may lead to a misunderstanding of the underlying points he was raising. Literary devices are what they are and should be accounted for accordingly.
2) Robert Romano similarly used a bit of satirical quip near the end to drive home the point that the much of the mainstream media missed a point he previously raised months earlier.
3) To Romano’s point, it is entirely possible that some prices will rise, depending on how the tariff struggles play out over time. But the underlying point of the tariffs and the Trump 2.0 policies arguably remain valid. The goal of deporting illegal immigrants and the goal of tariffs and realign U.S. trade policy are similar in this respect. Both aim to increase the earning potential of everyday American employees and smaller businesses.
4) MHProNews has used the following illustration to reflect how problematic the trade scenario has been between the U.S. and China. New readers and longtime ones alike are reminded that we are political independents and have been for over a dozen years. Each major party has its problems and has problematic behavior for years past that are impacting us today. For example. While President Richard Nixon (R) was hailed for his opening up China to American business, that is obviously in hindsight nothing to brag about, is it?
5) Trade with China has rippled impacts that are downplayed by the likes of Warren Buffett and other billionaires/corporate interests that via their investments into that communist regime helped build the Chinese economy at the expense of our own. For example. The stronger the Chinese economy became, the greater their military spending. In turn, that means that the U.S. military feels the need to spend more to counter Communist China (or Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, etc.). In many browsers or devices, to see the graphic below in a larger of full size, click here and follow the prompts.
6) As Buffett has said there have been millions who are effectively “road kill” (his term) to the U.S.-China trade policy. While some think it may be better to buy from Vietnam or other countries in the communist orbit, that too is arguably flawed thinking. The effect on the U.S. economy is similar.
7) It makes no sense to export jobs to other nations that could have been filled by American workers. Like Trump or not, perhaps you voted for against, or didn’t vote at all in the 2024 election of Trump-J.D. Vance (R) vs. Kamala Harris (D) and Tim Walz (D), Trump’s stated plan is to boost American wealth and thus increase the household and personal wealth of Americans over people in other nations. That’s supposed to be the job of good government: to protect their own citizens against illicit threats foreign and domestic. To the extent that numbers of Democrats (and several Republicans) politicians in the last 30 years have ‘sold out’ American interests for nations other than our own, it is no surprise that people across the left-right media spectrum have kicked up a fuss over the pain being experienced in the markets in recent days. After all, they are likely still reflecting the interests of their donors.
8) Flashing back to Trump 1.0, even left-leaning CNN’s data had to note that incomes rose under Trump. What he started to do in his first term Trump is now attempting to do more forcefully in his second term with his VP J.D. Vance (R) as his wingman.
The point? One takeaway should be that what worked before can work again.
9) MHProNews noted approaching a year ago that Wall Street (think big investors) opposed the Trump presidency because they felt that it would drive up wages for Americans born citizens or naturalized citizens.
10) With respect to manufactured housing more specifically. If household incomes rise faster than inflation, that should yield more potential buyers. So, even if the cost of inflation-adjusted products or services go up, so long as the overall effect is that more people have greater disposable income, that’s a net positive. Kevin Clayton’s arguments against tariffs arguably were and remain demonstrably wrong.
11) More could be said. But Trump has likened the current scenario to that of a patient that needs major surgery. He has a point. For decades American interests were sold out, hollowing out American manufacturing. Many of those who sold out our country were massive asset managers and investment conglomerates, like Berkshire Hathaway (BRK), BlackRock, Vanguard, or State Street, among others.
12) There is an array of views out there. Good, bad, ugly. Democrats and their supporters are going to make hay of market turmoil. Here are some examples.
Good morning and Happy Friday to everyone who misses having a President who didn’t start dumb trade wars, because he was too busy creating 16 million jobs, signing infrastructure and manufacturing bills, and putting a $35/month cap on insulin.
We were better off under Joe Biden. pic.twitter.com/7Ro5Rx6t1N
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) April 4, 2025
NBC: US stocks continue to plummet after Trump unveils sweeping tariffs.
Who could have guessed that a man with 11 bankruptcies to his name would fuck up the economy with a stupid trade war?#TrumpTariffs #TrumpisaNationalDisgrace #TrumpIsUnfitForOffice #ImpeachTrumpNOW pic.twitter.com/IblaoKJe8W
— LA Blue Dot in GA 🌊💔 (@namwella1961) April 4, 2025
Donald Trump’s trade war is a betrayal to his own voters and will have serious consequences.
This is the largest tax hike of our lifetime. pic.twitter.com/3ApQfBMoY8
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 3, 2025
But ironically, Democrats in years gone by often held very similar views to what Trump is saying now. Democrats said problematic trade policies hurt U.S. workers, including labor unions. There are reasons why union members are praising what Trump is doing. Some examples are useful.
It’s funny watching the Democrats have heart attacks over tariff policies that the Democrats have been talking about doing for decades and we’re too afraid to go after Wall Street.
President Trump fears nothing! And Democrats are going to be sorry because this is going to work,… pic.twitter.com/lqAIUHRnxh
— Moni 💕 (@MoniFunGirl) April 4, 2025
Democrats were for tariffs before they were against them.https://t.co/LbhmBvSHmq
— 59Corvette (@59Corvette1) April 3, 2025
Would love for any of my left-leaning friends to watch this and then attempt to defend it. Primary Democrat representatives were in favor of tariffs…until Trump implemented them. The problem has only gotten worse since these videos were made…please explain the flip-flop. https://t.co/K9Gd4Yuppv
— justin.mecklenburg (@JustinMeck_) April 4, 2025
UAW member “we support Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs 100%.” @OANN pic.twitter.com/B7rgMYWlw2
— Stella Escobedo (@StellaEscoTV) April 2, 2025
Yes. United Auto Workers praise President Trump’s new tariffs, saying it’s necessary “to end the free trade disaster” pic.twitter.com/tMog4pbNnJ
— Spot On 👍🏼 (@MissLynneO) April 3, 2025
Wow! Trump’s tariffs are paying off big time! 🚀 @Apple is leading the charge with new factories and 20,000 jobs, investing $500B in the U.S.! The ripple effect is massive. 🇺🇸 @RealEAntoni from the Heritage Foundation breaks it down pic.twitter.com/VBL3n7i5Ah
— Redacted (@TheRedactedInc) March 12, 2025
United Auto Workers union praises Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico https://t.co/pszj20wTrs pic.twitter.com/Od6WSFLwIZ
— New York Post (@nypost) March 4, 2025
13) So, there are good reasons to believe that if Trump 2.0 stays the course that this will work out for the good of the vast majority of Americans. Many (not all) American leaders essentially ‘sold out’ American employees and smaller businesses for decades. Those who support the status quo roll out short term pain and an array of fears to paint a picture that this is madness, that Trump has no plan. It should be kept in mind that Trump has an ego. He is not following this course of action thinking this will hurt his legacy or that of the MAGA/America First movement. Rather, he is doing these things, be it DOGE, federal layoffs, an effort to forge peace (obviously, it has taken longer than a day) overseas, deportations, or trade/tariff policies all aim to saving taxpayers money. He has said he wants to end the personal income tax and replace it with external revenue. The savings in time and taxes for domestic smaller businesses and could be enormous.
No pain. No gain. A drug, alcohol or smoking addict goes through withdrawals if they quit cold turkey. Even if they tapper off, there are problematic symptoms, but they are necessary. The long-term potential is tremendous.
MHProNews plans to monitor and periodically report on the tariff and related economic topics as deemed warranted. ##
https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/i-blame-mhi-sales-could-be-much-better-mhi-insider-finger-points-essential-for-hud-to-use-mhia-authority-affordable-housing-crisis-should-yield-manufactured-housing-in-reports-plus-mhmarke/ and https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/gross-incestuous-symbiosis-bloodbath-claims-denial-by-manufactured-housing-institute-mhi-firms-frank-rolfe-andrew-keel-passive-investing-subculture-interview-rent-control-hit-mhi/
An hour or so of reading a day can make the realities of your life and options and obstacles clearer. That’s a fraction of what Warren Buffett reportedly does in reading. No one connects the dots in MHVille like MHProNews and MHLivingNews. Who says? Competitors. Manufactured home industry outsiders, but also from MHVille insiders. But we have also added insights from AI fact checks and analysis, see the report linked here as an example. https://www.manufacturedhomepronews.com/artificial-intelligence-answers-why-manufactured-housing-has-underperformed-in-21st-century-during-affordable-housing-crisis-facts-analysis-plus-sunday-weekly-mhville-headlines-r/
“Don’t Just Trust Us, Check Us.” ©
“We Provide, You Decide.” ©
Again, our thanks to free email subscribers and all readers like you, as well as our tipsters/sources, sponsors and God for making and keeping us the runaway number one source for authentic “News through the lens of manufactured homes and factory-built housing” © where “We Provide, You Decide.” © ## (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
Related References:
The text/image boxes below are linked to other reports, which can be accessed by clicking on them.’
