Join us as we delve into President Trump’s declaration of ‘Liberation Day,’ marking a pivotal moment in U.S. economic policy. With three key tariff options on the table, we break down each strategy’s potential impact on international trade and domestic manufacturing. Accompanied by insights from guest experts, this episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the administration’s approach to balancing international trade relations. The discussion also touches on the broader implications of these tariffs, such as their effect on American consumers and industries. We consider the historical context of tariffs in U.S. policy while examining contemporary responses from global partners
SPEAKER 10 :
Trump declares it Liberation Day as he prepares to announce the tariff plans.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome to Sekulow. And according to President Trump, it’s Liberation Day. And that means the tariffs are going in place. Now, what’s very interesting, Will, and Will Haynes is joining us. By the way, we’ve got a packed show. CeCe Heil is joining us. Harry Hutchinson is joining us. So stay tuned for all of that. President Trump has declared this Liberation Day. Now, what it means, in typical Trump fashion, we don’t really know. There is not a definitive plan. There is three options. that are on the table. So we will have a bit of a cup and ball game. It’s almost like the selection draft. It’s like I’ve decided to go to which college. Oh, oh, oh, Auburn. Put on that hat. So we’ve got three hat options. That’s right. Three hat options that are different ways tariffs could apply. You have an option where it’s everyone’s tariffed. You got some that are selective tariffs.
SPEAKER 11 :
And then you got, what’s the third one? That’s right. So this is at this event that he’s having in the Rose Garden called? Tariff Tuesday.
SPEAKER 10 :
No, not Tariff Tuesday. It’s Wednesday.
SPEAKER 11 :
So that would be an April Fool’s joke maybe. But this is Make America Wealthy Again event. And here are the three options. It is a 20% universal tariff on virtually any import. So anything coming from another country in the United States, 20% tariff on it. There is a second plan, which is a reciprocal plan, which is more targeted at the countries that have high tariffs on us. And so there are varying options. percentages levied on those nations based off of reciprocity. And then this third one, which actually was brought to him last night. So this is like an 11th hour potential new plan of which he said he is mulling over is that there is an across the board tariff on a subset of nations. So it’s almost a hybrid plan. between 20% on every one or varying. It’s kind of that subset that have the high tariffs, but it’s a flat fee for that subset. So it’s interesting. We won’t know until 4 o’clock Eastern which one he chooses, but there are three different options out there right now.
SPEAKER 10 :
I think this came up in the meeting with Kid Rock, this third idea. He was having dinner with Kid Rock and with Bill Maher, and they were like, you know, Bob, what do you think about the tariffs? And he was like, I got an option. I got a third plan. I got a third option you haven’t even thought about.
SPEAKER 11 :
we call it the cowboy plan i mean they say it was brought to him by trade officials but i don’t know that term could be you know generally used uh kid rock could be a trade official under certain circumstances maybe i mean he does international shows international uh hits i don’t i mean i’m sure he has at some point yeah right maybe we could look at that information is readily available i was watching sky news and they were talking about kid rock and they weren’t that’s an american rapper kid rock so i mean i think they had to give you who he is yeah
SPEAKER 10 :
But, all right, hey, phone lines are open for you, and you may have seen the headline, if you’re watching on YouTube or Rumble, that was Press Secretary Leavitt saying, hey, it is going to work. Can we tell them what that was about, Will?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, so we actually have the sound from her. This is where she’s pushing back against some of the people that are saying it’s not going to work. Here’s bite one. How long is this bite?
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s about 20 seconds. Okay. Can we restart it or are we getting problems? We got some problems. All right. So let’s just, we’ll play it. You know what? It’s called a teaser. Later on, we’ll play it for you in the next segment. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. And listen, we really appreciate everyone who supported us during the March Life and Liberty Drive, so much so that we’ve decided, as you knew, we were a little short of our goal. We decided to extend it and extend that drive into April. Of course, I told you, you know, life was kind of what we spent March talking about. Liberty is really what we’re going to be focused on right now. And there’s definitely a crossover there of what that looks like. We’ll be filing a lot of big lawsuits even this week right now. You may have heard about some of our cases, including an oral argument that’s happening today in a major case we filed that will allow states to defund Planned Parenthood. We’re going to get into that with CeCe Heil coming up. We filed in another case to defend the Trump administration’s executive actions to defund that abortion giant of Planned Parenthood. And we filed a big lawsuit this week against HOA. which everyone loves their HOA, right outside our nation’s capital that has banned home Bible studies. We’re going to get involved in all of these. Go to ACLJ.org right now to make your donation. Your donation is doubled. You can scan that QR code right now as well. Welcome back to Seculo. Again, we’re going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. And do we have that bite now? Are we ready? Are we set up? Okay, so let’s give people, Will, a bit of a reset here so they understand what’s happening today. President Trump is declaring it Liberation Day at his Make America Wealthy Again event. And tonight, we will find out what the tariff situation is going to be. Whether you like the tariffs or not, this is where the Trump administration is going. So it’s going to be one of three options right now. And Carolyn Leavitt, our press secretary…
SPEAKER 11 :
said these are going to work and if you look at uh our youtube title or our rumble title you may be wondering what are we talking about here so let’s set this back up that’s right so this was at yesterday’s press briefing and remember president trump originally wanted to do this liberation day on april 1st but i believe it was in the joint session to congress he said it’ll be april 2nd because he doesn’t want anyone to think that he’s joking on april fool’s day but But what she was talking about is there’s obviously a lot of chatter about this. There’s a lot of economic experts and faux economic experts on platforms like X that are saying, this is why it’ll work, this is why it won’t work, et cetera.
SPEAKER 12 :
You called me a faux economic expert?
SPEAKER 11 :
I see your posts. I see your posts about the economy.
SPEAKER 10 :
I don’t think you know much. I don’t know. I mean, I try. Right. People say the market is up, and I go, that’s good. People say the market is down. I go, that sounds bad.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what we’ve got here is her explaining about these tariffs and what is going to be coming today and how they’ll be implemented. Let’s go and play bite one.
SPEAKER 02 :
They will be effective immediately. And the president has been teasing this for quite some time. They’re not going to be wrong. It is going to work. And the president has a brilliant team of advisors who have been studying these issues for decades. And we are focused on restoring the golden age of America and making America manufacturing superpower.
SPEAKER 10 :
I mean, that part is exciting that maybe this could push America back into getting stuff made here, actually, because I don’t know if you’ve tried and I have tried for different businesses to have products produced in the States. It’s very difficult. It’s not only difficult financially. Sometimes you just can’t physically do it. They don’t. There is not the factory that can develop the product you’re looking for. And of course, you go to China. And there’s 4,000 factories ready to go, ready to create whatever you want. We’ll operate on the highest level of customer service, if you will, where in America, I remember we tried to get something done. It was the factory that could do it kind of like brushed us off. We barely would have the conversation, not worth their time, or they want to charge you something absurd. So hopefully, if there is going to be positive with these tariffs, is that it could bring manufacturing. But that’s also, I mean, there are some places that it’s happening already. That is pretty long-term forecasting.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, there’s a lot to unpack about the whole tariff issue. I think first you have to start off, and I’d love to hear from the audience, because traditionally tariffs aren’t associated with conservatism, fiscal conservatism. So what are your thoughts on this? Call us at 1-800-684-3110 and tell us what you think about even the concept of using tariffs in this way. Used to be we didn’t negotiate with tariffists. Oh, that’s not the right word. That’s what I’ve heard. No. But these tariffs, what we’re looking at is traditionally, you think of conservatives, people on the right, they’re more for free trade. And that’s nice in theory. But what we’re seeing is a world where we have free trade with them. We send our products, but they put tariffs on theirs coming here. So it’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not free. It’s not going both ways. That’s why the idea of reciprocal tariffs to, one, either try to get them, bring it down, their prices or tariffs down, or at least level the playing field on… On the other side of this is when you see kind of the gamesmanship of getting maybe things done. And with the border issue or with fentanyl trafficking, you can use this tool to try and get other policies. But then there’s also the other aspect of this, which is the manufacturing part, where when – Things that we bring in aren’t hit with a tariff. They remain low. So the demand for imported goods from another country, the demand here, because they’re made more cheaply, is higher. But when we send our goods to another country and they put a tariff on it, that lowers the demand for American goods abroad. So it hurts our companies here that may have an international business.
SPEAKER 10 :
I mean, for China, if you want to think about it this way, the film industry in China, which is something I’ve worked in the film industry for the last 20 years, so I’ve had to deal with international sales. They actually have laws on how many productions they can import. And if the movie theater has a certain number of screens, a certain number of them have to be made in China or funded in China. That’s why you see a lot of times now a random Chinese production company at the beginning of a movie because… Universal or whoever, I’m using that example, I don’t know if it’s Universal, will go do a deal with one of those so they can be one of those allocated Chinese films that’s happening. I’m not saying that’s the right thing, but they’re protecting their entertainment business in a weird way. Same way that this would potentially…
SPEAKER 11 :
restart the manufacturing business well that’s right because also if the demand uh dries up in some ways for bringing the the tariffed goods now into the united states if if these things we’re bringing in now the price is raised because of of these tariffs then the demand for that shrinks and it creates competition here at home it creates the ability for people and yes that is a long-term Maybe there are many companies that may already have facilities. They can make these switchovers. But it does start to plant the seed of rebuilding the manufacturing base here in America.
SPEAKER 10 :
How much is this just to get people to the table, to start kind of renegotiating with different countries? Because we’ve already seen some countries react to this. Right. Canada. We saw Israel react to it. We’ve seen a lot of them start. So is this just another President Trump negotiation tactic to quickly get us on the right track by forecasting something that is seemingly, honestly, it feels not impossible to bring manufacturing back to the United States, but it does feel a long way away.
SPEAKER 11 :
I think that it is multifaceted and that there are many outcomes. And I think it may be country dependent as well many times. But using this kind of broad stroke, it’s hard to pinpoint one single goal of it. But yes, you mentioned Israel announced yesterday on the eve of this that they are lifting all tariffs on U.S. products that go into Israel.
SPEAKER 10 :
So to explain that, they were tariffing. American made products that were then being imported. Because there are a lot of different things, probably food items, a lot of things that were coming in from America.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. And so when it would get there, they put a tariff on it, a tax. And once it’s imported, that then goes forward. But a lot of times what it does is it causes the price to be raised on the product in the country and that lessens demand for it. But they are taking away all their tariffs on U.S. goods ahead of this, which is why you could see something like the more nuanced of reciprocal plan or even the third option where it’s the subset of nations of flat fee because you’re also seeing India. They’re starting to claw back some of their… That’s a big one. They have some of the highest tariffs on American goods across the board and some of them 150, 250 percent. And they are starting to draw that down, which will create more demand for those products as prices go down in India, which ultimately benefits American companies.
SPEAKER 10 :
And understand, President Trump has said at 4 p.m. Eastern, he’s going to be announcing what this is. We may know beforehand, sometimes you find out a little bit before, of what the decision is being made, but it goes into effect according to their team immediately. So this would be something that is on the books tonight, gets to work. So the time for negotiation in that sense, the damage will have already been done, if you will. So you got to make sure that these countries can actually react, have time to react. But I think the idea of he’s been pushing him for the last two months. So now, look, we’re actually going to do it. There are some questions and comments coming in about the election yesterday because we talked about that. I want to go to Michael in Florida who’s watching on YouTube. He wants to talk about Wisconsin. I will say in Florida, both conservatives, including our friend Jimmy Petronas, took the win. So that’s good. It’s good news for those. But Michael, go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I was just kind of wondering because Elon put a lot of effort as well to try and help campaign for this particular Supreme Court justice to be elected. And it went to the other… individual. And, you know, of course, Elon kind of put some pretty heavy consequences that could potentially happen if this person got elected. So I’m just kind of wondering…
SPEAKER 11 :
What happens now? Yeah, so Michael, the media tried to make it be like, oh, Elon’s trying to buy this election. So Susan Crawford, who was the liberal choice there and backed by Democrats, did defeat Brad Schimel, who was the choice of conservatives. However… Wisconsin has always been… But she also had the backing of two billionaires that were funneling money. One, the Soros money was behind her, as well as Governor Pritzker from… Illinois, who is a billionaire, that famous moment at the DNC where they had someone bashing billionaires. It was Bernie Sanders, I believe. And then the next speaker was a billionaire that was a governor. He put a lot of money behind this, too. They tried to make it look like it was being bought. The bet was always going to be that she would prevail. She had a lot more money, a lot more backing, and Wisconsin’s a tough state. And so it was kind of a last ditch effort to try and cause an upset. But I don’t necessarily think it’s an indication or a referendum on the Trump policies at this point. She was the favorite and did end up carrying the day. It’s not a good thing for the people of Wisconsin if they don’t want to lose representation.
SPEAKER 10 :
in the house of representatives but i don’t think it’s a referendum on trump hey two lines are open for you right now 1-800-684-3110 i want to hear from you i want you to get on the air because we got a lot of great content coming up including next we got cc heil joining us to talk about some new aclj work that’s happening right now at the supreme court in terms of the defunding of planned parenthood we’ll be right back Welcome back to Sekulow. There are a couple lines open. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. CeCe Hiles joining us, senior attorney here at the ACLJ, to discuss some of the news coming out of the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Maybe give us a bit of an update of where that stands. We’ve heard a lot of talk within the administration that things were starting to happen. It was starting to go. And, of course, there’s always pushback. But today there is a Supreme Court hearing about that. Maybe you can give us a rundown of where we are.
SPEAKER 08 :
Sure. This Supreme Court hearing deals with Medicaid, which was a 1965 plan for federal funds to assist states in providing medical services and assistance to needy persons. So it’s basically federal funding. Where we are now in South Carolina, of course, South Carolina has a right to say what their policy is when it comes to protecting human life and they are a pro-life state. And so they have determined that Planned Parenthood is not a qualified health care provider under Medicaid. So they will not reimburse any funds spent there at Planned Parenthood. And the issue is whether a state can do that. And of course, we filed an amicus brief in this case and said, of course they can. And especially after Dobbs, when Dobbs returned that question of abortion and protecting protection of life in the womb. to the states and so that’s what well that’s what the supreme court’s going to decide today whether a state can determine who is a qualified health care provider because actually the medicaid statute doesn’t give a definition for qualified and the state can determine that
SPEAKER 11 :
And Cece, I’ve been following this case. I also, I receive Planned Parenthood’s emails to keep an eye on what’s going on, and they’re very concerned about this. They keep highlighting it for people that subscribe to their email lists and things of that nature about how important this is, how critical it is. In reality, because of returning it to the states, the states can decide, as you mentioned, whether or not that this is a provider in their program. They’re arguing whether that this is depriving citizens of the various states their right to choose the provider of their choice. And Planned Parenthood’s not a primary care doctor. We know what they do. We know their business. Even though they say abortion is a very small portion of it, They say that if they can’t get this Medicaid money, they won’t be able to continue to operate, but yet they won’t give up maybe the portion of their business that is causing them to. In reality, This is a debate over whether or not Americans, once again, have to fund businesses or practices that perform abortions. This isn’t whether or not abortion is legal or illegal in the state. It just comes down to, do the taxpayer dollars have to go to this business? They’re arguing before the Supreme Court, if you have Medicaid… You have to give us money. You can’t discriminate against us. Effectively, is that what they’re arguing?
SPEAKER 08 :
They are. And again, like you said, they make the argument that, oh gosh, we do a lot more than abortion, which we know they do not. That has been proven over and over and over again. I think even when Obama was in a debate, he was saying about the mammograms that they provide. And that was proven absolutely that they do not provide mammograms. So when they say, you know, we do these exams and screenings again, that is a very, very, very, very small percentage of what they do. And and even according to their own numbers, those screenings that they provided have dropped 80 percent. I mean, they don’t do that.
SPEAKER 10 :
They’re walking in there for one reason. And maybe they are looking for options, but Planned Parenthood is there to provide that one option. And it’s so much of their business. I think we’ve always talked about that, that sure, they could say the funding is only, it doesn’t technically go to abortions, but it’s like, we know how that works. We know that money goes, is reallocated and that’s how they’re able to do it. But you can’t be And we say it’s like a certain number of percentage. Abortion is only 2% of the services we offer, but it’s also like 98% of the business that they end up doing. That’d be like you have a store that sells anything. Let’s say it sold a gas station and you’re like, well, chewing gum is only 2%. But then you looked at it and it’s like, well, but all you sell is chewing gum. Very similar in that situation. I know that’s a hard thing to kind of wrap your head around. It’s like having one item that really is the main deal.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the other issue in this and this is kind of a legal technical issue is, is there a private right to action to sue? And, you know, that is another thing that we cover in our brief that no, you cannot an individual cannot force what is an agreement between the federal government and the states. They cannot force that right. And again, the state has the right to determine who’s a qualified health care provider and And in this case, they have determined that Planned Parenthood, who is an abortion provider, is not a qualified health care provider.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Phone lines are open for you as well at 1-800-684-3110. We’ll keep you updated on this. Look, I think that news could develop pretty fast. It’s another situation where we should have some answers fairly soon about how this is all looking. And President Trump has certainly indicated that this is where he’s headed in terms of defunding, at least in some ways.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and that’s right, and CeCe, the Trump administration also, we had heard rumblings about this about a week or so ago, but now apparently nine Planned Parenthood state affiliates that receive money from Title X… So this is different than the Medicaid portion of the funding that they receive. This is Title 10 funding, which is family planning programs that they receive. Planned Parenthood got a notice that their funding is temporarily being withheld based off of some violations of executive orders. So they are already starting to claw back some of this money.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. And Title 10 does not allow for any funds to go to provide for abortions. So they do. Title 10 funding does not provide for abortions. However, it does provide for family planning. So that is how Planned Parenthood still does get some of these funds. But because their executive orders right now. that deal with diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, and also taxpayer subsidization of open borders, so illegal immigrants. Those two executive orders, that’s what this is about because, of course, Planned Parenthood pushes DEI, and Planned Parenthood also pushes for illegals to get abortions there. And so the government has said, you are violating these two executive orders, and until you can prove that you’re not, these funds are going to be withheld.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. That hopefully gives you a good update of all that’s going on. I want to hear from you. Look, in the next half hour, we will take some of your calls. If you can stay on hold, please stay on hold because we will get to you. But we do want to hitch with some really great content coming up because we’re going to talk a little bit more about what President Trump is calling Liberation Day. Today, as the tariffs go into place, Harry Hutchins is going to be joining us to give us a bit more of a breakdown. how all this is going to work. Of course, there’s still those three options. We’re not sure which one he’s going to go with, but we’ll know the decision today at 4 p.m. Eastern as President Trump makes his statement from the White House at the Make America Wealthy Again event, and these tariffs will go into place immediately. So it’s going to be an interesting afternoon, to say the least. We are, though, as CeCe said, taking major cases. We’re getting involved heavily in what’s going on, including the Supreme Court. Your support is what keeps us in the fight. We had our Life and Liberty Drive for the month of March, and we decided we’re going to extend it into the month of April. We’re able to continue that match because of people who said, yes, we want to continue on. Again, we were short of our goal. We want to try to make up some of that. So right now, I’m going to encourage you, especially if we lose you here at the end of this first half hour, if you’ve got to go do something or if you don’t get us on your local station. If you don’t, you should tell them that you want it. But you can easily just go to ACLJ.org, download the ACLJ app, find us on YouTube, Rumble, whatever it may be. But you can have your gift doubled today through our Life and Liberty Drive at ACLJ.org. You know we have these fights. whether that was for our fight for life and what’s going on in Massachusetts. We spent a lot of time on that, but now we’re moving into this month, month of April, which is our month of liberty. So we’re going to be doing that all month long. Thank you again for supporting the work of the ACLJ. If you already have second half hour coming up right after this, a really short break, just a minute.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome to Sekulow. We are talking about today being Liberation Day, as President Trump calls it, and what that means. We’re going to find out a little bit later this afternoon as he decides one of the three big options for tariffs, which will go into place immediately. So we’re going to keep you updated on that. We got some calls coming in about it. Let’s go to D. who is an ACLJ champion, which means she gets bumped up to the front of the line, number one. So she always gets to be first because she’s an ACLJ champion. That’s something that gives on a monthly recurring basis. But also she’s got some really great things to say. Dean Colorado, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 13 :
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my call. Just a quick comment. I was thinking it can’t be Tariff Tuesday, so I’m calling it Wealthy Wednesday. Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s good, D, and that is what President Trump has deemed today, which is the Make America Wealthy Again event. Some people say, hey, that’s a little simplistic, but exactly. You remember it, you know what it’s for, you know what it means, D, and you know what he’s talking about, and that’s always what President Trump does. He kind of can break it down in a way that you’ll easily understand. Tariffs is something that we’re all a little apprehensive on a little bit. You have a lot of industries saying this could really hurt us, but… If he’s going to be this sort of America first president once again, this is where they feel like it’s the best way to go. We can at least give it a chance. It’s okay to have feelings one way or the other, by the way, and still support administration. So I do see a lot of people discussing that right now. But I think the proof will be in the pudding. We’ll see if this actually does what we think it could.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. And America has a long history of using tariffs as a tool. There used to be no income tax in this country and the government was primarily financed through tariffs. I mean, so there’s some people that may be like, yeah, maybe we should go back to that pre Woodrow Wilson and Federal Reserve and income taxes and a different type of economy. Now, whether or not that works in a global world, the way that things are connected now.
SPEAKER 10 :
I like that you’re like, we need to go back to that. Pre-Woodrow Wilson era.
SPEAKER 11 :
He did a lot of things that messed up the economy.
SPEAKER 10 :
I know. It’s funny to be like, you know, back when my day, Woodrow Wilson messed everything up. That’s right.
SPEAKER 11 :
He died in the 20s, I think. Well, I mean, he may have led to the Great Depression because of some things he did. That being said- Makes sense why he died in the 20s. There’s a lot of- Concern from, one, businesses and industries and those that have large… I would say legitimate concerns. Yes, especially the short term. Right, that’s what I mean. The unexpected, a lot of businesses, especially that have international business that sell their goods abroad, they’re concerned about what it looks in the short term. If demand shrinks and then they have supply that they can’t move or things of that nature, or if their business dries up overseas… How do you shift if you don’t have a large runway of planning? These things go into effect immediately. If it’s across the board and your business deals in a country that then strikes back, then you have an issue. Or if you are a business here that uses an imported good to make your business flourish and the prices go up on that, there’s a lot of unknowns about how this will play out. But I do think there is a consensus that when you’ve been doing something for so long and it hasn’t been working and you see these trade deficits and you see the way that we are beholden to foreign nations because of the things they make for us that we could make here but don’t anymore. There is a big urge within this administration with many people in this country of maybe we need to do something a little differently than we’ve been doing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I think that has been the MO of President Trump this administration’s beginning, which is, you know what, let’s try something new. We just keep going. In Washington, D.C., it’s very hard to try something new. You go back to the old standards every time. But this administration’s trying to mix it up. Look, we see that even what happened in Israel. There’s a lot of interesting thoughts, interesting debate, interesting conversation that has come up. Doesn’t mean necessarily it’s how it’s going to go, but the options are on the table. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. If you have a question or comment for Professor Harry Hutchinson, also coming up in the next segment, because he can give us maybe a deeper look into the tariff situation. Not that you can’t, Will. I think you could do it, too. But maybe I’ll ask the questions. Because I think a lot of us, look, again, as Will said, you hear tariffs, so you’re not necessarily like super pumped about it. Or maybe you don’t even understand it. We’re going to break that down even more. 1-800-684-3110. Support the work of the ACLJ if you can right now as we relaunch our Life and Liberty Drive extended through the month of April. We’ll be right back with more. Scan that QR code right now and make your donation doubled. Welcome back to Seculo. In the next segment, we are going to take as many calls as we can. So please stay on hold. If you are Ray, John, David, Roger, Kurt, stay on hold. We’re going to try our best to get to as many calls as we possibly can in the next segment. Harry Hutchinson is joining us in studio right now. And I told Will during the break, I’m going to let Will and Professor Hutchinson kick this one around. Because you know what? I need to sit back and learn myself. And maybe we all will. I may have a question or comment to jump in. But if we’re talking the economy, we’re talking finance. Will has a degree in finance. Just want to make sure people know that. In journalism. That’s true. I’m just going to give your whole CV, as they say. Well. I don’t know anything in this. I mean, yeah. Yeah. You pretty much exhausted. You acted in a couple movies. Yeah. So there you go. That’s Will Haynes. Go check him out on IMDb. Get that star meter up. All right. Let’s talk about this. It’s tariff day, liberation day, as they’re calling it, which may seem a little extreme for people to be like, you know, it does sound very Bostonian. It feels very much like we’re, you know, we’re throwing tea in the harbor. But in some ways, metaphorically, I guess we are. Well, and Professor Hutchison, what- I wanted you to say, that’s exactly right. That’s exactly right, Logan.
SPEAKER 11 :
We’re throwing tea in the harbor. Well, what we are looking at here is, one, the only thing we truly know is that President Trump is going to declare tariffs and they will go in effect today, according to what the White House has told us. We don’t quite know what the plan is. is going to be yet. However, I see the across the board 20% or the reciprocal tariffs or the more hybrid of varying degrees on different countries. I kind of feel like the across the board 20% is the least likely option at this point because President Trump is already seeing positive moves by many nations as a response to The announcement that today is even coming. We talk about Israel repealing tariffs on U.S. goods. So is part of this gamesmanship on the president’s part to get more fairness and get towards more free trade, even though using tariffs as a mechanism in the bully pulpit to do it?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think you’re precisely correct. So today has been labeled Liberation Day, and arguably that means that the United States for too long has been held hostage to a free trade mantra. And many other countries have taken advantage of us in terms of industrial production, pharmaceutical production, dairy production, and you name it. So it’s important to keep in mind that if you look at India, the United States has had, for instance, a trade deficit with India of 40 to 60 billion dollars. The United States has had a trade deficit of $65 billion or thereabouts with Canada. The United States has, at least according to Global Finance magazine, and I have yet to check this against a third party, The trade deficit with China has surged to $1 trillion. That is an astronomical number. If true, that means that the U.S. industry in a wide range of departments has been hollowed out and is in the process of being hollowed out. And Donald Trump is saying this is far enough. And you can go no further.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and for that, a trade deficit for you, Logan, specifically, if there’s a trade deficit of a trillion dollars with China. Well, you said you needed to learn.
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m trying to help you out.
SPEAKER 11 :
I knew some of those words. That means that we are buying. We are spending money in China. a trillion dollars more than they are spending on United States goods. So therefore, we are enriching China at a trillion dollars more than they are spending on U.S. goods. That is shocking. That is a shocking figure. And even when you talk about $65 billion deficit with Canada and things of that nature, that shows why, and what President Trump talked about in the first term, that we are beholden to foreign investment, that we cannot operate without buying goods from other nations. And he has been trying in this first term, and now he feels like he really has the mandate to try and resolve this. This is one of those issues that you would think there could be some bipartisan support, and maybe it would even moderate his rhetoric about it some. If People realized, yes, we don’t have a manufacturing base here. We do care about the middle class of America that built this country that has been wrecked by shipping all of the manufacturing jobs overseas. That this really could be a good thing for the American people long term to not only depend on foreign goods to make our economy work.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think that’s precisely correct. And one of the things that Democrats don’t seem to understand because they love billionaires is that the average American household earns about $66,000 per year. And many of these workers have been decimated by losing their jobs or alternatively, if they can find a job, only at lower wages. Also keep in mind that while we have been running these huge trade deficits, what has the Biden administration done? It has imported large numbers of low wage workers who are competing with American workers. And so most of the job growth during the Biden administration went to foreign born workers as opposed to American workers. And so it’s really strange to think that it takes a billionaire in office, Donald Trump, to understand that American workers have been hurt massively over the past 15 to 20 years. it made sense to support free trade after world war ii but world war ii ended almost 80 years ago and so there are huge problems uh in terms of international trades
SPEAKER 10 :
I want to take a call during this right now, because there’s a lot of calls on the tariffs. I want to make sure that we have someone like Harry in here to discuss this and give us a little bit more background on it. Let’s go to John in California, who is watching on ACLJ.org. John, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
My question is, if Trump’s trade issue goes the way he wants it to, what’s going to prevent the Americans from escalating his prices if there’s no more price war. People like me that are retired, how high is the money going to go if they don’t have any competition? What’s my protection?
SPEAKER 09 :
I’ll let you both decide. That’s a great question, but it’s imperative to look back at the first Trump term. He imposed significant tariffs during his first administration, and the maximum inflation rate during Trump’s first term was around 2.1%, and when he left office, it was around 1.4%. Whereas under the Biden administration, what happened to inflation? Inflation ballooned up almost to 10%. Why? Because government spending exploded under Joe Biden.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and also to piggyback off of that, while some goods that are imported, the price could naturally go up because there’s a tariff and then the individuals or really the price gets passed on to that. So when we bring something in, but there’s also the converse of that where goods like dairy, a lot of necessities like poultry, things of that, that are also exported from the United States to Canada. They already have a 250% tariff on many of these things. They’re charging that already, that if they raise that, that could decrease the demand in Canada for those goods, meaning that the more supply stays here, which lowers prices because there is more supply to go around. So it… They talk about the inflation. There’s also a deflationary side, which for many businesses may not be helpful, but for many Americans could see a shrinking of prices. It’s not a general rule. It’s only inflationary. I think that’s also something that should be pointed out.
SPEAKER 09 :
And just quickly, we should note that egg prices have fallen substantially in the first couple of months of the Trump administration. Gasoline prices are also down. So some prices are already beginning to fall.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep, absolutely. Thank you, Professor Hutchinson, for joining us today. Again, I’m going to take your calls coming up in the next segment. I saw someone saying, hey, Logan always says… He always says the most important voice in the room is the callers, and he waits until the end. Why wait until the end? Because this is the fun part. You’ve now been educated for 55 minutes or 50 minutes, and now you get to speak your mind. I just got educated for the last 11, okay? We’re going to learn together here, people. Give me a call, though. We’ve got two lines open, 1-800-684-3110. We’ll try to get to you. If you call in the last second, sometimes I don’t get to you. But stay on hold. Ray, Mary, Roger, Kurt, we’ll make sure we get to you today. And again, support the work of the ACLJ as we have extended our life and liberty drive because people like you have said, hey, I want to continue matching these donations. So their donations are still doubled as we take on these amazing fights that are going to continue on throughout the year. We really could use your support. You need the ACLJ. You’ve heard about so many things. Even yesterday, you had that pastor on California who pretty much had his congregation restored because of the quick and decisive action from our ACLJ team at no cost to him, but because of people like you that support us financially. So go to ACLJ.org, scan the QR code. We’ll be right back. All right, here we are. We’re going to take your calls because a lot of you are calling in right now. The first one gets to go is Mary in Maryland, and that is because she’s an ACLJ champion. So we have people on the hold for 40 minutes or so. Maybe you just didn’t tell them. Maybe you are an ACLJ champion. Sometimes you don’t tell the phone screener, and then there’s no way for us to know. But Mary is, so she gets bumped to the front of the line. Mary, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you so much, and I wish I could double what I give already because you are so great. But anyway, if I remember correctly, President Trump tariffs were on food, particularly in the first term that he had. And everyone was horrified. They thought that our farmers would go broke and all this kind of stuff. And it worked out really great. So I just feel like we should have confidence that he knows what he’s doing.
SPEAKER 10 :
I think there is that thought with President Trump, which is he’s a businessman. He is someone who’s worked in the corporate world for so many, so many years. And negotiation tactics are proven successful. He’s a billionaire. We can go through all of the different things. And you go, yeah. Sometimes he’s thinking outside the box. Sometimes he’s doing things that don’t traditionally seem conservative. But he has sort of remade what it means to be a conservative, remade what it means to be a Republican, whether you like that or not. It’s just sort of the truth. And you’ve got to live with that. But yeah, I mean, this is not new for him to have tariffs.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. And as it played out in the first term, and they weren’t necessarily as aggressive, what happened? The stock market freaked out. The media freaked out. The world is going to end. The sky is falling. And then he ended the term with the stock market reaching all-time highs until the pandemic, which shut down the entire… And the world did kind of end, Will. But that wasn’t related to tariff slogan. Then you look at that… where the economy continued to grow post him announcing tariffs. And then what did the Biden administration do? They kept many of them in place. So it wasn’t such a bad thing that they immediately had to get in there because they cut a lot of stuff that President Trump did in his first term in the first hundred days in 2021. One thing they didn’t start removing was the tariffs, which show you that sometimes what you’re hearing from the left is, from their elected officials, from the media they control. It’s not always as it seems. And maybe it’s not always a bad idea.
SPEAKER 10 :
I want to try to get some more calls. Go to Ray in California. Watch it on YouTube. Ray, you’re up.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi. Thank you. Yeah, we don’t really even realize how deep we are for media and education. talking about terrorists, but the tips, growing up, you guys are younger, you got a glimpse of America in Trump’s first term, how it was all the time. So growing up, the waitresses never got tipped. And, you know, those are elected, and even Republicans sit around like, how can we yank another piece of skin off their back? And now they get taxed whether they get tipped or not. He’s resetting it. He’s older, and as older people know, That’s how it used to be all the time. Lower middle class. You could buy a house. No problem. You didn’t worry about money. I’m in California. We got roads, asphalt paved roads turning into dirt.
SPEAKER 10 :
I was out there this past weekend and there are things happening in California that break my heart someone who loves the state uh has seen what’s going on there because of some of these issues like you brought up but you do say that you know we we are younger we are are in our late 30s well i’ll say it that way we’re in our late 30s we have lived in a world where most things were manufactured outside of this country i always go back to you know we are i was born 1985 the year back to the future came out there’s that famous line their famous line where he goes of course it’s bad it’s made in japan and marty mcfly responds with all the best things are made in japan Because in 1955, that was a very different world. That’s usually where my mind always goes to. Back to the Future in general. I think about the trilogy all the time. It’s your Roman Empire. It really is. The third one’s underrated. People always go to the second Back to the Future. The third one, perfect bookend. All right, let’s continue on. Ray, thank you for your call. And I want to make sure I get to somebody who’s been a hold for a long time. Kurt in Minnesota. Serious XM listener, you’re on the air.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you for taking my call. My question has to do with the condom manufactured in the United States, but assembled in a different country. Is there any graduated tariff, or is this just going to be where it’s made?
SPEAKER 11 :
I would just say I don’t think, one, we know specifically the final outcome yet. But typically, if it’s an across-the-board tariff, if something is – once again, when we say that we are announcing tariffs, these are when we import something into the United States. So if parts are made in the United States and assembled in a foreign country, they would be imposing tariffs on the U.S. goods. So this would more be if we are buying parts from a foreign country and then assembling it here. So it’s kind of the opposite of what you’re asking. But I think what you’re saying, what you’re seeing, though, is many countries like Hyundai and things that are starting to open more manufacturing here because they are a foreign country. But then the good and the service and the product is all being conducted here. They avoid the tariff that way.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, there you go. All right. Roger is calling in Oregon on line five. You’re on the air, Roger.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, thank you for taking my call. The news media is controlling and setting the narrative regarding tariffs and Doge. The lies in this information, especially about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are going largely unchallenged or when there is a response. The response is weak. The media machine is on the offensive. So the Republican Party needs to go on the offense. They need to produce ads across the country clearly showing the tariffs imposed by other countries, how those countries are benefiting the costs to the U.S., and why the U.S. is imposing tariffs to address this longstanding problem. Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
And I hate to cut you off. We’re just running out of time. I look forward to watching President Trump’s four o’clock address because I think that he can do a good job at communicating of why this is a positive because you’re right. The media is going to spin it as a negative. Now, I can tell you I’ve overheard. I’ve talked to people. I’ve conversations where everyone is kind of, you know, for the Doge side. They’re all like, well, none of us really want government waste. But of course, they have to play some sort of media game. But I understand what you mean, Roger. I don’t know if they should be taking out ads. I also think the influence of mainstream media has taken a huge hit. So where you may be seeing it that way, the audience may not be. But Roger, I appreciate you calling in. It was a really good question. Maybe there are ways. I think President Trump will be able to explain it a little bit better. Let’s go very quickly to Dan, who’s watching on the Salem News Channel. Dan, we’re running out of time, but go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, I just wanted to say that, you know, during Trump’s first term, there was jobs created and nobody could find help. Wages were going up.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, man, it was stinging like a jellyfish for a lot of people there. It’s what was happening, Dan. I appreciate you calling in. I hate to cut you off, but we are just running out of time. But that is the truth. People were going through a lot right then. And I think we had then four years of a global mental reset where you kind of forgot what the first Trump administration, especially in the pre-COVID world, what that looked like.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. And as Dan was saying, the wages were going up, jobs were being created, the inflation was in the targeted inflation index, and then everything was reset and topsy-turvy. But it’s almost as if the Democrats got away with trying to say, oh, that’s all Trump’s fault, even though it was not.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep, absolutely. All right, we’re going to wrap up today’s show. I appreciate all of you for listening. And hey, look, some people have commented about Val Kilmer, of course, incredible American actor, Val Kilmer. Someone who, you know, is your favorite Batman? Yeah, up there. Yeah? Up there. Pretty good guy? I like Michael Keaton, too. I like the Val Kilmer Batman. I like the Chris O’Donnell Robin, though. That’s my favorite. It’s a cool suit that he had there. All right. That’s going to do it for today’s show. I appreciate all of you for listening, all of you for watching. We have extended our Life and Liberty Drive, so if you want to support the work of the ACLJ, the donations are still doubled right now. Again, throw that QR code up on the screen. It’s not that I don’t want you to see my pretty face. Of course I do. But I need you to scan the QR code so you can donate and have your gifts doubled right now at aclj.org slash lifeandliberty if you’re just listening. But if you are watching, real easy, pull out your phone, take a picture. That QR code will take you right to the link. Of course, you can do that on the ACLJ app as well.
