Tariffs — March 26, 2025

Locator: 48380TARIFFS.

Measles: outbreak spreads to Kansas -- with ten new cases reported since last week. Yesterday's Texas report: 327 cases. Of those 327, 325 were unvaccinated. Last week, 309 in Texas; more than 350 in Texas / New Mexico. Link here.

Americans lose in appellate court: judges agree Judge Boasberg was correct; deportations under old law unconstitutional; as suggested earlier, we're going to see a lot of prison building in Texas, Louisiana ... or perhaps, even better, release these folks into sanctuary cities. Link here. Next story: prison overcrowding.

Breaking: link here.

“The reality is that, when we take funding away from public health systems, the systems just do not have the capacity, because they’re chronically underfunded over the decades,” said Dr. Umair Shah, who served as Washington State’s health secretary until January.

In other words, this was not the federal government's problem. The states had to have known this was coming. And, apparently, according to The New York Times, the states have been underfunding these activities for decades.

The New York Times says this is abrupt! In fact, these were grants that were allocated in response to Covid-19. That was five years ago.

Congress authorized the money for state public health programs as part of Covid relief bills. The funds were indeed initially used for testing for and vaccination against the coronavirus, as well as to address health disparities in high-risk populations.

But last year, the money was also allowed to be put toward other pressing public health concerns, including testing and surveillance of other respiratory viruses, an array of vaccines for children or uninsured adults and preparedness for health emergencies.

Certainly states had time to react to this. Using grants to track infectious diseases sounds a lot like a huge slush fund. It will be interesting what this does to Gavin Newsom's state budget. 

But machts nichts. Judge Boasberg will put a hold on it since US Congress directed how the money was to be spent. 

Meanwhile, federal judges are working as hard as they can to keep illegal, criminal foreigners from being deported. 

Autos: also, breaking: President Trump says he will levy a tariff of 25% on cars imported into the United States.

• we now need to get a list of cars that will be affected.
• this tells me American manufacturers have assured the president they have more than enough cars to meet demand;
• luxury cars may become the most targeted
• memo to self: check tickers for Ford and General Motors in a.m.
• after announcement and after hours: GM just plunged 6% 
• same: F is now down about 4% after announcement; moments later, now down about 5%;
• begs the question: why would investors sell Ford and GM on this news?  
• Trump may give breaks to companies who commit multi-billions for investment in the US, as Hyundai did earlier this week.
• my hunch: Canada (GM), Mexico (F), and Germany most at risk.
• is Michigan a blue state or a red state
  

My hunch: Judge Boasberg is about to get overwhelmed with more requests to stop these executive orders.