Speaker 1: The President of the tariffs Amazon, what is going on?
Speaker 1: It's time for Gary and Shannon show breakdown?
Speaker 2: So why doesn't somebody tell me what they think is
Speaker 2: going on?
Speaker 1: Those can be hard explain this to me like I'm
Speaker 1: a two year old, OK.
Speaker 3: You need a breakdown with Gary and Shannon.
Speaker 1: Starts with a report that Amazon was going to display
Speaker 1: the cost of tariffs next to the total price of
Speaker 1: products on its site. This was a question this morning
Speaker 1: posed to Caroline Levitt and Scott Bessen, the Treasury Secretary
Speaker 1: at the White House.
Speaker 4: So it was reported this morning that Amazon will soon
Speaker 4: display a little number next to the price of each
Speaker 4: product that shows how much the Trump tariffs are adding
Speaker 4: to the cost of each product. So isn't that a
Speaker 4: perfect crystal clear demonstration that it's the American consumer and
Speaker 4: not China you is going to have to pay for
Speaker 4: these policies.
Speaker 5: I will take this since I just got off the
Speaker 5: phone with President about Amazon's announcement. This is a hostile
Speaker 5: and political act by Amazon. Why did Amazon do this
Speaker 5: when the Biden administration height inflation to the highest level
Speaker 5: in forty years? And I would also add that it's
Speaker 5: not a surprise because as Reyers recently wrote Amazon has
Speaker 5: partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm.
Speaker 6: Okay, go on, I was just going to say that
Speaker 6: the word hostile evokes a terminology that's used for war,
Speaker 6: a hostile act. Anyway, the administration's reaction, Amazon says, was
Speaker 6: based on a misinterpretation of internal plans being considered by Amazon,
Speaker 6: rather than a final decision made by the company. They
Speaker 6: considered the idea Amazon's Hall service did, that is, their
Speaker 6: recently launched low cost storefront. They considered the idea of
Speaker 6: listing import charges on certain products, but this was never
Speaker 6: an approved idea.
Speaker 1: They also add were looking at adding a separate line
Speaker 1: item to products on the Hall site in response to
Speaker 1: the removal of the dominimous trade loophole. That consideration was
Speaker 1: not related to the tariffs one hundred and forty five
Speaker 1: percent terariffs that we've seen on imports from China now.
Speaker 1: Punch Bowl News was the organization that originally reported that
Speaker 1: Amazon Big Amazon would soon, in quotes, begin displaying the
Speaker 1: cost of tariffs alongside the price of each product, citing
Speaker 1: a source familiar with the company's plans. Again, as of
Speaker 1: right now, Amazon said it did consider displaying import charges,
Speaker 1: but that it was never approved and that it is
Speaker 1: quote not going to happen.
Speaker 6: Small businesses are having a tough go of this, not
Speaker 6: the Amazons of the world. They are reporting dwindling inventory,
Speaker 6: skyrocketing invoices, and the Trump administration has raised tariffs on
Speaker 6: goods from China to one hundred and forty five percent
Speaker 6: in early this month, early April. Now, he did say
Speaker 6: last week where we last left off with Trump, he
Speaker 6: said he expected the tariffs to come down substantially. And
Speaker 6: that is kind of what small businesses are laser focused
Speaker 6: on when the back and forth causing a lot of
Speaker 6: problems when it comes to what is a bottom line
Speaker 6: without a lot of wiggle room with these businesses.
Speaker 1: The bigger businesses are getting some concessions. Trump is expected
Speaker 1: to soften the automotive tariffs. It would prevent duties on
Speaker 1: the foreign made cars from stacking on top of the
Speaker 1: other tariffs that he is imposed. So as of right now,
Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal is reporting that automakers that pay
Speaker 1: the car tariffs will not be charged for other tariffs
Speaker 1: things like steel and aluminum. The move would also be retroactive,
Speaker 1: meaning that those car makers could be reimbursed for things
Speaker 1: that they've already paid. The five percent tariff on finished
Speaker 1: foreign made cars went into effect earlier this month.
Speaker 6: The Treasury Secretary Scompsen says the goal there is to
Speaker 6: help automakers create more domestic manufacturing jobs.
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's going to happen.
Speaker 6: Well, we're okay in this department, so let's create more jobs.
Speaker 6: I don't see that happening. You're not getting that much
Speaker 6: savings to create jobs domestically, at least not at this point.
Speaker 1: And in the meantime, we're starting to see the very
Speaker 1: immediate effects of the tariff war in that the imports
Speaker 1: into the ports of LA and Long Beach are going down.
Speaker 1: An interview this morning Jean Soroka, who has one of
Speaker 1: the most polished speaking abilities I've heard in a long time,
Speaker 1: actually explains what we're going to see in the next
Speaker 1: couple of weeks here in LA and Long Beach. Jean Soroka,
Speaker 1: Executive Director of the Port of LA gave an interview
Speaker 1: this morning CNBC, and he was talking about the impact
Speaker 1: that tariffs and the fight over tariff's, potential trade war, etc.
Speaker 1: Is going to have at the point of the spear
Speaker 1: when it comes to Imports, which is the largest port
Speaker 1: on the West Coast.
Speaker 3: The ports of la and Long Beach to be down
Speaker 3: just a little bit over thirty five percent next week
Speaker 3: compared to last year, and it's a precipitous drop in volume,
Speaker 3: with a number of major American retailers stopping all.
Speaker 2: Shipments from China based on the tariffs.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing I think about this is the way
Speaker 1: he described not just the port but the shipping companies
Speaker 1: themselves trying to make up for this, because remember, China
Speaker 1: makes up the bulk of imports into our country. We
Speaker 1: get most of our stuff that he referred to it
Speaker 1: as China is our factory in that they produce so much,
Speaker 1: so the shippers are going to try to go elsewhere
Speaker 1: perhaps and get other things to pick up before they
Speaker 1: come into the United States.
Speaker 2: Now, what we have heard in talking directly to CEOs
Speaker 2: and senior executives of the shipping lines is they'll try
Speaker 2: to add a couple of port calls in a low
Speaker 2: along the Southeast Asia routes where cargo is still moving,
Speaker 2: albeit at a ten percent tariff, But realistically speaking, until
Speaker 2: some accord or framework can be reached with China, the
Speaker 2: volume coming out of there save a couple of different
Speaker 2: commodities will be very light at best.
Speaker 6: Well, yeah, you want to leave everything where it is.
Speaker 6: You don't want to unpack it if it's going to
Speaker 6: cost you more to either buy it or sell it, right,
Speaker 6: So why would you have any sense of urgency? I
Speaker 6: would just leave things where they are until something gets
Speaker 6: ironed out here.
Speaker 1: Well, on this his description of how long it takes
Speaker 1: to iron things out is going to be important as well.
Speaker 6: And that's what goes back to what I was talking
Speaker 6: about in the last segment. With small businesses, one during
Speaker 6: you know, with their inventory dwindling is they don't want
Speaker 6: to buy new stuff at a heightened rate if they
Speaker 6: can wait, because there's no wiggle room when it comes
Speaker 6: to the bottom line.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So if you are that small business that relies
Speaker 1: on raw materials from China or even finished products from
Speaker 1: China that you resell, does it make financial sense to
Speaker 1: try to find a new supplier in a place like
Speaker 1: Cambodia or Vietnam.
Speaker 2: Major American retailers put their orders into factories in Asia
Speaker 2: three or four months before a vessel even sales our way,
Speaker 2: which is an additional two week transit time. So simply
Speaker 2: shifting from your manufacturer in China over to Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia.
Speaker 2: That quickly normally doesn't happen. There's some negotiations that have
Speaker 2: to take place in addition to finding the necessary capacity,
Speaker 2: because a lot of folks are running to these locations
Speaker 2: now to try to augment the loss of volume coming
Speaker 2: out of China.
Speaker 1: This guy has taken a public speaking class.
Speaker 6: Clearly is that name sounds very familiar?
Speaker 1: Soroka as head of LA Portal, I know who now,
Speaker 1: and then he described this is what in terms of
Speaker 1: on the streets for consumers, what the impact would be.
Speaker 1: We are going to see a shrinking of materials, a
Speaker 1: shrinking of inventories, but we're not necessarily going to see
Speaker 1: empty shelves completely.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 2: I don't see a complete emptiness on store shelves or
Speaker 2: online what we're buying. But if you're out looking for
Speaker 2: a blue shirt, you might find eleven purple ones and
Speaker 2: one blue and a size that's not yours. So we'll
Speaker 2: start seeing less choice on those shelves simply because we're
Speaker 2: not getting the variety of goods coming in here based
Speaker 2: on the additional costs in place, and for that one
Speaker 2: blue shirt that's still left, you'll see a price hike.
Speaker 1: So if you're in the market for a blue shirt
Speaker 1: right now, he says, there's about five to seven weeks,
Speaker 1: depending on the industry, five to seven weeks of inventory
Speaker 1: for just different products, and that if we don't see
Speaker 1: a lot of movement within the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: that's when you're going to start seeing things. As we
Speaker 1: get deeper into May, probably early to mid June is
Speaker 1: when we're going to start actually noticing some of the
Speaker 1: shortages that have been threatened because of the tariffs. So
Speaker 1: and again, the President has said this one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty five percent tariff on Chinese products will not last,
Speaker 1: that there will be some movement. We just don't know
Speaker 1: what sort of a timeline that is. We've also not
Speaker 1: been shown any of the alleged deals that have been
Speaker 1: worked on right now between the United States and other
Speaker 1: countries outside of China that I think would have an
Speaker 1: impact at least on consumer sentiment that they the feeling
Speaker 1: that something is being done.
Speaker 6: I don't know, because until they get to China, I mean,
Speaker 6: I don't really I don't know how much the deals
Speaker 6: with the smaller places or smaller trade organizations matter.
Speaker 1: I just think at least there would be some momentum.
Speaker 1: At this point. They keep talking about it was and
Speaker 1: they're not showing any sort of progress. Yeah, so I
Speaker 1: don't know.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that would be nice to see something right, something tangible,