Latest news with #DianeSawyer
Toronto Sun
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Republican lawmakers rip Sesame Street for Pride post
'This is evil and should infuriate every parent in America. DEFUND,' Congresswoman Mary Miller posted Diane Sawyer attends the 2025 Sesame Workshop Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City, Wednesday, May 28, 2025. Photo by Theo Wargo / Getty Images Republican lawmakers have renewed their efforts to defund PBS following a Sesame Street social media post that celebrated the beginning of Pride month. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'On our street, everyone is welcome,' the long-running children's show wrote Sunday on X. 'Together, let's build a world where every person and family feels loved and respected for who they are. Happy #PrideMonth!' The post included an illustration featuring the arms of Sesame Street characters holding hands and arranged in a rainbow of colours. It went viral and had been viewed more than 25 million times as of Wednesday afternoon. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Republicans criticized the post for being 'woke' and called for the public broadcaster to be defunded. 'PBS is shamelessly grooming our children while collecting taxpayer dollars,' Congresswoman Mary Miller of Illinois wrote Monday. 'This is evil and should infuriate every parent in America. DEFUND!' PBS is shamelessly grooming our children while collecting taxpayer dollars. This is evil and should infuriate every parent in America. DEFUND!! — Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) June 2, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In a subsequent post Tuesday, Miller reiterated her call for the cancellation of funds going to PBS and NPR. 'The woke mob is coming for our kids, and they're using taxpayer dollars to do it,' she wrote. 'President (Donald) Trump's rescissions package to defund PBS, NPR, and USAID must be brought to the floor for a vote this week. It cannot wait!' The woke mob is coming for our kids, and they're using taxpayer dollars to do Trump's rescissions package to defund PBS, NPR, and USAID must be brought to the floor for a vote this week. It cannot wait!! — Rep. Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) June 3, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Mike Lee, a Republican senator representing Utah, also called for an end to PBS funding. 'Federal funds aren't for grooming,' he wrote Monday, quoting a post featuring a clip of Elmo, Cookie Monster and Johnathan Van Ness of Netflix's 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.' 'Through Sesame Street characters or otherwise. Defund PBS.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told Margaret Brennan of CBS News' 'Face The Nation' that he is supportive of funding cuts to public television. 'I don't think we necessarily need government programs any more,' he said. 'We have so many choices on the internet and so many choices on television.' 'It's Sesame Street! It's Sesame Street. It's PBS and NPR' – @margbrennan interrupted @SenRandPaul as he cited the wasteful spending in expected upcoming foreign aid rescission request. Sesame Street (Children's Television Workshop) left PBS for HB0 in ten year deal in 2015 and… — Brent Baker 🇺🇲🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) June 1, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. On May 1, Trump signed an executive order that sought the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — a publicly-funded non-profit — to end its funding of PBS and NPR. 'Unlike in 1967, when the CPB was established, today the media landscape is filled with abundant, diverse, and innovative news options,' the order reads. 'Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.' Read More RECOMMENDED VIDEO Toronto & GTA Crime Celebrity World Sunshine Girls
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
James Corden's restaurateur nemesis claims he had whirlwind romance with Diane Sawyer in bizarre post
British restaurateur Keith McNally shared a bizarre social media post claiming that he had a 'whirlwind love affair' with famed television journalist, Diane Sawyer. His rep has since clarified that the allegations are 'not true' to Page Six after he initially joked 'what happened in London [between them] STAYS in London.' On Wednesday, the I Regret Almost Everything author, who famously banned James Corden from celebrity hotspot Balthazar, claimed Sawyer 'was the first American' he 'ever slept with.' 'I had dinner last night at Diane Sawyer's apartment. It was an anniversary of sorts,' he alleged. 'Diane and I had first met in London 53 years ago TO THE DAY. (May the 27th 1972.) I was 20 at the time and had just returned to London after having lived in Afghanistan, India and Kathmandu. Diane was living in Washington DC but had come to London for a ten day vacation with a couple of girlfriends.' He continued: 'We met at the theatre. By chance, we were sitting next to each other at a production of Tom Stoppard's play Jumpers. I was alone and Diane was with her two girlfriends.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. McNally then recalled Diane asking to 'borrow' his theatre program and asking his thoughts on the play during intermission. Before the play began, he said Diane asked if she could 'borrow' his theatre program and, during intermission, asked him what he thought of the play. 'The play was too intellectual for me and I hadn't understood a word, but pretended to know it backwards,' he wrote. 'One of Diane's friends mentioned that I'd got the characters mixed up and I blushed and felt like an idiot.' McNally proceeded to reveal that Sawyer, who he described as 'stunningly attractive' and a few years older than him, took pity on him 'and said something to make' him feel 'better' about himself. 'When the play ended, Diane asked me if I wanted to join them for dinner. I really wanted to join them but couldn't afford it and hesitated. Understanding my predicament, Diane lied and said the dinner was already paid for,' he detailed in his post. He concluded the post by writing: 'Diane and I had a whirlwind love affair. It only lasted a week but we became best friends for life. Even though I'm really happy that we're best friends I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we'd stayed together.' Shortly after the post began to make headlines, McNally's rep confirmed to Page Six that his story was completely fictitious. The alleged encounter would have been 14 years before she met her longtime husband Mike Nichols, who passed away in 2014. At that time, McNally was also single and had yet to marry. has reached out to McNally and Sawyer's representatives, but have not heard back, at this time. In October 2022, McNally made headlines after banning Corden from his restaurant. At the time, he claimed on Instagram that the talk show host had been rude to his staff several times: berating them over a hair in his food and demanding free drinks during the summer. Additionally, James had allegedly furiously reprimanded the waiters over an omelet he was unhappy with. The first incident in June allegedly came after the comedian found a hair in his meal. According to staff, who were 'very apologetic,' the star allegedly declared: 'Get us another round of drinks this second. And also take care of all of our drinks so far. This way I [won't] write any nasty reviews in yelp or anything like that.' McNally said that in October, there was more trouble when Corden came in for brunch with his wife Julia Carey and complained about 'a little bit of egg white' in her egg yolk omelet. He then allegedly began 'yelling like crazy' when they made a new one but served it with fries instead of a salad. The post claimed James told the server: 'You can't do your job! You can't do your job! Maybe I should go into the kitchen and cook the omelet myself.' The couple received a free glass of Champagne and apologies, but the server 'was very shaken.' Four hours after announcing the ban to his 87,000 Instagram followers, McNally promptly reversed it, saying he had received a call from Corden apologizing. In a later post, the fiery restaurateur admitted that he felt 'really sorry' for Corden. McNally detailed the incident in his memoir, which was released earlier this month. 'By exposing Corden's abuse, it appeared as though I was defending a principle, when all I was doing was seeking the approval of my young Balthazar staff,' he said. McNally continued: 'Corden called me four times the day the post came out, each time asking me to please delete it. On the last call he sounded desperate.' 'Relishing my hold over someone so famous, I told him I wouldn't delete it. Like a little dictator, I was intoxicated with the power I'd received.' Strangely though, Keith has confessed that he didn't see the incident unfold with his own eyes and instead had posted on behalf of his staff members' accounts. 'For someone who's hyperconscious of humiliation since suffering a stroke, it now seems monstrous that I didn't consider the humiliation I was subjecting Corden to,' he added. 'Especially as I hadn't personally seen the incident I so vividly described on Instagram. 'I'm not suggesting Corden didn't deserve the backlash from my post. (The b------ probably did.) 'I'm just saying I didn't see the incident I wrote about that, to some degree, jeopardized his career.' Balthazar, located at 80 Spring Street in the SoHo area of Manhattan, has become wildly popular over the last two decades. It has been visited by a slew of A-list names including Anna Wintour, Zoey Deutch, Sienna Miller, Jared Leto, Mary-Kate Olsen, Tom Hiddleston, and Meryl Streep - to name a few.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
No, David Muir Is Not Leaving ABC World News
Wondering if David Muir is leaving ABC World News Tonight? The award-winning journalist has anchored the network's flagship evening news program since 2014 and remains one of the most trusted faces in American television. Recent rumors and a brief on-air absence sparked speculation about his future with ABC—but is there any truth to the buzz? Here's what we know about David Muir's current status at ABC and the facts behind the departure chatter. David Muir has not announced any plans to leave ABC World News Tonight. He continues to serve as anchor of the broadcast, a role he has held since 2014 after taking over from Diane Sawyer. Rumors of Muir's departure circulated in late 2024 following his brief absence in August, during which weekend anchors Whit Johnson and Linsey Davis temporarily filled in. However, Muir later posted photos from a vacation in Italy, confirming he was on a scheduled break. The speculation increased after a YouTube video claimed Muir would soon exit ABC. The video appeared to contain AI-generated content and altered visuals, casting doubt on its credibility. No verified source has supported the claim. On May 12, 2025, Muir appeared on ABC World News Tonight as usual, covering major stories including a temporary U.S.-China tariff truce and updates in the Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial. He remains actively involved in anchoring duties and reporting key national and international news. Muir also shared a farewell message to NBC anchor Lester Holt, who recently announced his exit from NBC Nightly News to take on a full-time role with Dateline. Muir posted two photos with Holt and wrote: 'Lester is a true gentleman… I'm going to miss that. And I'll miss bumping into you on all those flights!' Holt confirmed in a staff memo: 'After 10 years, 17 if you include my years on the weekends, the time has come for me to step away from my role as anchor of Nightly News.' He added, 'I will be continuing as anchor of Dateline NBC, but for the first time in a full time capacity.' No statement or evidence has confirmed that David Muir is leaving ABC News. He continues to anchor World News Tonight and co-hosts 20/20. The post No, David Muir Is Not Leaving ABC World News appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump announces massive new 'Liberation Day' tariffs. Here's how they might affect you.
On Wednesday, President Trump announced that the United States will hit back at any country that imposes trade barriers on American exports by subjecting them to sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs — an unprecedented move that threatens to upend the global economy, experts say. For Trump, disruption appears to be the point. 'My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day," he said in a speech from the Rose Garden. "For decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far. ... Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream." "But it is not going to happen anymore," he continued. "Reciprocal — that means they do it to us and we do it to them. Very simple. Can't get any simpler than that." The president also plans to impose a minimum 10% tariff on all imports entering the U.S., regardless of where they come from — in addition to other tariffs. Trump has spent much of his second term teasing, delaying, triggering — and occasionally even retreating from — big taxes on friends and foes alike: a 25% tariff on certain Canadian and Mexican imports here, two rounds of 10% tariffs on Chinese goods there. His 25% tax on imported cars and auto parts is set to start Thursday; last month, he reinstated a 25% levy on imported steel and aluminum. He's even threatened to slap a 200% tariff on European alcohol. But Trump's new tit-for-tat tariffs are different because they're not specific to a single country or industry. Instead, they're universal — a whole system of taxation meant to fundamentally alter America's relationship with the rest of the world. For anyone who has followed Trump's political career, even this latest escalation shouldn't come as a surprise. 'I always say 'tariffs' is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary,' the president repeated during his inauguration festivities earlier this year. But the actual impact of Trump's reciprocal tariffs could be more of a jolt. 'Tariffs are gonna make us rich as hell,' he promised in January. 'They're gonna bring our country's businesses back that left us.' Economists, however, tend to see things differently. Here's how Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs could affect you. Tariffs aren't a new obsession for Trump. 'I believe very strongly in tariffs,' he told journalist Diane Sawyer in 1988, nearly 20 years before his first presidential run. 'America is being ripped off. We're a debtor nation, and we have to tax, we have to tariff, we have to protect this country.' Trump has long insisted that universal tariffs will level the proverbial playing field by incentivizing companies to retain American workers and ramp up U.S. manufacturing — all while funneling 'trillions and trillions of dollars" in new revenue to the federal government. Trump has also railed against trade deficits — how much more money we spend on another country's goods and services than we earn from selling it ours — and vowed that tariffs will balance them out. Now the president is finally putting his pet theory into practice. Yet nearly all economists disagree with Trump's take, noting that a tariff is actually an import tax paid by the company doing the importing — not by the foreign country (or foreign business) sending its goods to the U.S. The same experts have found that most importers simply pass the added cost of tariffs on to U.S. consumers by jacking up their prices — rather than going out of their way to replace the affected goods with American-made alternatives, which still tend to be more expensive. Then other countries retaliate with tariffs of their own, risking a global trade war and recession. Meanwhile, any efforts to shift manufacturing to the U.S. take a long time and cost a ton of money — which is another expense that consumers might have to shoulder, at least in the short term. The 'effect [of reciprocal tariffs] will be lower economic growth, higher inflation, higher unemployment, the destruction of wealth and a tax increase on American families,' economist Jason Furman, a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, recently explained. 'It will deal a blow to the rules underlying the global trading system and further empower China.' To understand how reciprocal tariffs could affect American consumers, it's worth looking first at something simpler: Trump's new 25% automobile tariffs. The impact on foreign automakers — and the Americans who purchase foreign-made cars — is obvious. Most car companies are not extremely profitable, so they have limited room to maneuver. If importing a Volvo from Sweden is suddenly 25% more expensive, then the car itself is likely to get a lot more expensive, too. But even domestic automakers — and foreign companies that manufacture their cars at least partially in the U.S. — will take a hit. A single car or truck can move back and forth between the U.S. and Canada up to eight times before it's fully assembled. Car parts come from all over the world. Taxing those imports at 25% whenever they cross the U.S. border will eat into profits, and prices will inevitably rise in response. According to estimates by iSeeCars, an online car buying site, Trump's tariffs could add $15,000 to the price of a Ram 1500 pickup, $12,000 to a Toyota Tacoma pickup, $9,000 to a Subaru Forester S.U.V. and $6,000 to a Nissan Sentra sedan. There are likely to be widespread knock-on effects as well. Used car prices could soar as demand surges. Car insurance could cost more (reflecting the rising cost of replacement parts). And U.S. car companies could find themselves further stretched by additional barriers from foreign governments. So far, Trump and his allies have brushed off such concerns, dismissing them as short-term pain in the service of long-term gain. 'I couldn't care less if [automakers] raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars,' the president recently told NBC News, adding that companies seeking to avoid cost increases could simply start building their cars in the U.S. with American-made parts. But can automakers rely on Trump to keep his tariffs in place long enough for them to change how and where they manufacture cars? And what happens when Trump leaves office in 2028? The president's new retaliatory tariffs are similar — except they're everywhere all at once. Seeking to counter not only other countries' tariffs but also 'nonmonetary barriers" such as currency manipulation, subsidies, exorbitant taxes and theft of intellectual property, the president held up a chart Wednesday showing the White House's calculated tariff rates for dozens of other countries — and said the U.S. will now charge those countries half as much, reciprocally. Some of these new reciprocal rates, according the chart, are China at 34%, the European Union at 20%, Japan at 24% and India at 26%. Trump also announced that he will establish a universal baseline tariff of 10% that will apply to all countries — on top of any reciprocal tariffs or previous levies. That means a country like China will face a new 44% tariff in addition to the 20% Trump has already imposed. Driven by uncertainty about the scope of Trump's plan, the S&P 500 ended March with its steepest monthly decline in more than two years. Businesses have paused on investing and planning ahead. European and Asian countries are poised to retaliate with tariffs of their own. If inflation accelerates — and the prices of groceries, housing and other everyday goods start to rise — consumers could pull back on spending. A recession could follow. In order to encourage automakers to ramp up domestic manufacturing, Trump has insisted that his car tariffs are '100% permanent.' But his new reciprocal tariffs could be more… flexible. On a recent podcast, Trump explained that he is 'a big believer in tariffs because I think tariffs give you two things: They give you economic gain, but they also give you political gain.' What Trump really means by 'political gain' is 'leverage' — leverage that is powerful enough, in his view, to stop a war. 'I can do it with a phone call,'' he boasted in August. 'We're going to charge you 100% tariffs.'' And all of a sudden, the president or prime minister or dictator or whoever the hell is running the country says to me, 'Sir, we won't go to war.'' With reciprocal tariffs, Trump has already signaled that he plans to use them to extract concessions from trading partners — much as he did recently on border issues with his on-again-off-again tariff threats against Mexico and Canada. 'I'm certainly open to it, if we can do something,' Trump said last week. 'We'll get something for it.' This is hardly Trump's first go-round with tariffs. During his first four years in office, the president almost immediately 'hit a slew of countries with tariffs on steel and aluminum,' according to the New York Times, then 'wielded those taxes as leverage against Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA.' He followed up in 2018 with 'significant tariffs' on Chinese goods — including smart watches, chemicals, bicycle helmets and motors — 'then continued to ratchet them up over the next 18 months until his administration signed a trade deal with Beijing in January 2020.' Ultimately, the percentage of total imports covered by tariffs more than doubled during Trump's presidency — and his successor, President Joe Biden, kept many of Trump's import duties in place. 'When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so,' Trump tweeted in 2018. 'It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs.' But according to a recent summary of the economic research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, Trump's 2017-21 'tariffs didn't lower the cost of imports from China' and 'manufacturing jobs didn't come back to the U.S.' — yet 'U.S. consumers paid more on specific goods' and 'sectors targeted by retaliatory tariffs,' especially agriculture, 'took a hit.' Overall, Trump raised average tariffs by about 1.5 percentage points during his first term. But so far this year, they've gone up another six points — and reciprocal tariffs could ultimately lead to increases 'five to 10 times as large' as the ones Trump imposed last time around, according to Furman. Their impact is likely to be much larger as a result. 'The 2018-to-2019 trade war was immensely damaging, and [Trump's universal tariff plan] would go so far beyond that it's hard to even compare,' Erica York, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank that opposes the tariffs, told the Washington Post earlier this year. 'This threatens to upend and fragment global trade to an extent we haven't seen in centuries.'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump announces massive new 'Liberation Day' tariffs. Here's how they might affect you.
On Wednesday, President Trump announced that the United States will hit back at any country that imposes trade barriers on American exports by subjecting them to sweeping 'reciprocal' tariffs — an unprecedented move that threatens to upend the global economy, experts say. For Trump, disruption appears to be the point. 'My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day," the president said in a speech from the Rose Garden. "For decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far. ... Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream." "But it is not going to happen anymore," he continued. "Reciprocal — that means they do it to us and we do it to them. Very simple. Can't get any simpler than that." The president has spent much of his second term teasing, delaying, triggering — and occasionally even retreating from — big taxes on friends and foes alike: a 25% tariff on certain Canadian and Mexican imports here, two rounds of 10% tariffs on Chinese goods there. His 25% tax on imported cars and auto parts is set to start Thursday; last month, he reinstated a 25% levy on imported steel and aluminum. He's even threatened to slap a 200% tariff on European alcohol. But Trump's new tit-for-tat tariffs are different because they're not specific to a single country or industry. Instead, they're universal — a whole system of taxation meant to fundamentally alter America's relationship with the rest of the world. For anyone who has followed Trump's political career, even this latest escalation shouldn't come as a surprise. 'I always say 'tariffs' is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary,' the president repeated during his inauguration festivities earlier this year. But the actual impact of Trump's reciprocal tariffs could be more of a jolt. 'Tariffs are gonna make us rich as hell,' he promised in January. 'They're gonna bring our country's businesses back that left us.' Economists, however, tend to see things differently. Here's how Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs could affect you. Tariffs aren't a new obsession for Trump. 'I believe very strongly in tariffs,' he told journalist Diane Sawyer in 1988, nearly 20 years before his first presidential run. 'America is being ripped off. We're a debtor nation, and we have to tax, we have to tariff, we have to protect this country.' Trump has long insisted that universal tariffs will level the proverbial playing field by incentivizing companies to retain American workers and ramp up U.S. manufacturing — all while funneling 'trillions and trillions of dollars" in new revenue to the federal government. Trump has also railed against trade deficits — how much more money we spend on another country's goods and services than we earn from selling it ours — and vowed that tariffs will balance them out. Now the president is finally putting his pet theory into practice. Yet nearly all economists disagree with Trump's take, noting that a tariff is actually an import tax paid by the company doing the importing — not by the foreign country (or foreign business) sending its goods to the U.S. The same experts have found that most importers simply pass the added cost of tariffs on to U.S. consumers by jacking up their prices — rather than going out of their way to replace the affected goods with American-made alternatives, which still tend to be more expensive. Then other countries retaliate with tariffs of their own, risking a global trade war and recession. Meanwhile, any efforts to shift manufacturing to the U.S. take a long time and cost a ton of money — which is another expense that consumers might have to shoulder, at least in the short term. The 'effect [of reciprocal tariffs] will be lower economic growth, higher inflation, higher unemployment, the destruction of wealth and a tax increase on American families,' economist Jason Furman, a former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, recently explained. 'It will deal a blow to the rules underlying the global trading system and further empower China.' To understand how reciprocal tariffs could affect American consumers, it's worth looking first at something simpler: Trump's new 25% automobile tariffs. The impact on foreign automakers — and the Americans who purchase foreign-made cars — is obvious. Most car companies are not extremely profitable, so they have limited room to maneuver. If importing a Volvo from Sweden is suddenly 25% more expensive, then the car itself is likely to get a lot more expensive, too. But even domestic automakers — and foreign companies that manufacture their cars at least partially in the U.S. — will take a hit. A single car or truck can move back and forth between the U.S. and Canada up to eight times before it's fully assembled. Car parts come from all over the world. Taxing those imports at 25% whenever they cross the U.S. border will eat into profits, and prices will inevitably rise in response. According to estimates by iSeeCars, an online car buying site, Trump's tariffs could add $15,000 to the price of a Ram 1500 pickup, $12,000 to a Toyota Tacoma pickup, $9,000 to a Subaru Forester S.U.V. and $6,000 to a Nissan Sentra sedan. There are likely to be widespread knock-on effects as well. Used car prices could soar as demand surges. Car insurance could cost more (reflecting the rising cost of replacement parts). And U.S. car companies could find themselves further stretched by additional barriers from foreign governments. So far, Trump and his allies have brushed off such concerns, dismissing them as short-term pain in the service of long-term gain. 'I couldn't care less if [automakers] raise prices, because people are going to start buying American-made cars,' the president recently told NBC News, adding that companies seeking to avoid cost increases could simply start building their cars in the U.S. with American-made parts. But can automakers rely on Trump to keep his tariffs in place long enough for them to change how and where they manufacture cars? And what happens when Trump leaves office in 2028? The president's new retaliatory tariffs are similar — except they're everywhere all at once. Seeking to counter not only other countries' tariffs but also 'nonmonetary barriers" such as currency manipulation, subsidies, exorbitant taxes and theft of intellectual property, the president held up a chart Wednesday showing the White House's calculated tariff rates for dozens of other countries — and said the U.S. will now charge those countries half as much, reciprocally. Some of these new reciprocal rates, according the chart, are China at 34%, the European Union at 20%, Japan at 24% and India 26%. Trump also announced that he will establish a universal baseline tariff of 10% that will apply to all countries — on top of any reciprocal tariffs or previous levies. That means a country like China will face a new 44% tariff in addition to the 20% Trump has already imposed. Driven by uncertainty about the scope of Trump's plan, the S&P 500 ended March with its steepest monthly decline in more than two years. Businesses have paused on investing and planning ahead. European and Asian countries are poised to retaliate with tariffs of their own. If inflation accelerates — and the prices of groceries, housing and other everyday goods start to rise — consumers could pull back on spending. A recession could follow. In order to encourage automakers to ramp up domestic manufacturing, Trump has insisted that his car tariffs are '100% permanent.' But his new reciprocal tariffs could be more… flexible. On a recent podcast, Trump explained that he is 'a big believer in tariffs because I think tariffs give you two things: They give you economic gain, but they also give you political gain.' What Trump really means by 'political gain' is 'leverage' — leverage that is powerful enough, in his view, to stop a war. 'I can do it with a phone call,'' he boasted in August. 'We're going to charge you 100% tariffs.'' And all of a sudden, the president or prime minister or dictator or whoever the hell is running the country says to me, 'Sir, we won't go to war.'' With reciprocal tariffs, Trump has already signaled that he plans to use them to extract concessions from trading partners — much as he did recently on border issues with his on-again-off-again tariff threats against Mexico and Canada. 'I'm certainly open to it, if we can do something,' Trump said last week. 'We'll get something for it.' This is hardly Trump's first go-round with tariffs. During his first four years in office, the president almost immediately 'hit a slew of countries with tariffs on steel and aluminum,' according to the New York Times, then 'wielded those taxes as leverage against Canada and Mexico to renegotiate NAFTA.' He followed up in 2018 with 'significant tariffs' on Chinese goods — including smart watches, chemicals, bicycle helmets and motors — 'then continued to ratchet them up over the next 18 months until his administration signed a trade deal with Beijing in January 2020.' Ultimately, the percentage of total imports covered by tariffs more than doubled during Trump's presidency — and his successor, President Joe Biden, kept many of Trump's import duties in place. 'When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so,' Trump tweeted in 2018. 'It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs.' But according to a recent summary of the economic research conducted by the Harvard Business Review, Trump's 2017-21 'tariffs didn't lower the cost of imports from China' and 'manufacturing jobs didn't come back to the U.S.' — yet 'U.S. consumers paid more on specific goods' and 'sectors targeted by retaliatory tariffs,' especially agriculture, 'took a hit.' Overall, Trump raised average tariffs by about 1.5 percentage points during his first term. But so far this year, they've gone up another six points — and reciprocal tariffs could ultimately lead to increases 'five to 10 times as large' as the ones Trump imposed last time around, according to Furman. Their impact is likely to be much larger as a result. 'The 2018-to-2019 trade war was immensely damaging, and [Trump's universal tariff plan] would go so far beyond that it's hard to even compare,' Erica York, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank that opposes the tariffs, told the Washington Post earlier this year. 'This threatens to upend and fragment global trade to an extent we haven't seen in centuries.'
