Tractors and (upcoming) tariffs?

[sunandsand]

There are some local, state and federal incentives for businesses. (I'm the Econ Dev director for my area, so I get to follow this stuff.)

Local incentives aren't impressive, smaller cities simply don't have the money to give grants and rebates. In some cases, they can reduce or eliminate the *city* portion of the property tax, but the county usually still gets theirs, so it isn't much of a saving. Most of the help small cities can provide is help navigating local paperwork.

Counties do a little better, they have more money for incentives, and often fund economic development departments. We've got a really good one here, we just landed an overseas-based aircraft manufacturer which is building a 500,000 sf building and will employ 1,000 people.

State incentives are bigger still, but the decisions tend to get politically based instead of business based. They're also slow and cumbersome with lots of paperwork.

There are federal incentives, and these are almost always based on political considerations instead of sound business. The powers that be (whoever it might be, and it changes) decide that they want a business which makes X, and slather money on it.

Sometimes the business fails because it didn't make sense in the first place and then there is a lot of partisan finger pointing. Federal paperwork is appalling, it is the eighth wonder of the world that anything actually gets approved and funded.

What helps bring viable businesses to a specific area is a "critical mass" of talent or resources. Think Silicon Valley. We have several large boat builders in our area, suppliers congregate here, they poach employees from each other, and so on.

We are growing the tax base, not the tax rate, our unemployment is low, and people can afford to buy things - circular and expanding economy.

Best Regards,
Mike/Florida

 

[jyoutz]

It will be interesting to see the outcome for US exports to Mexico if a tariff is enacted. Will U.S. producers be hurt by this?

Mexico Trade & Investment SummaryU.S. goods exports to Mexico in 2022 were $324.3 billion, up 17.0 percent ($47.2 billion) from 2021 and up 50 percent from 2012. U.S. goods imports from Mexico totaled $454.8 billion in 2022, up 18.9 percent ($72.2 billion) from 2021, and up 64 percent from 2012.

Home › americas › mexico

Mexico | United States Trade Representative​

 

[jyoutz]

Some more interesting information about US/Mexico trade:

“Two-way trade in goods and services between the United States and Mexico totaled USD 863.4 billion in 2022, positioning Mexico as the second-largest overall U.S. trading partner. During this period, U.S. exports to Mexico totaled USD 362.7 billion and imports from Mexico totaled USD 500.7 billion (deficit of USD 138 billion). This large volume of trade directly and indirectly supports millions of U.S. jobs. Mexico is the first, second, or third-largest destination for merchandise exports from over 30 U.S. states. Top U.S. goods exports include electronics, vehicles, fuels, minerals, plastics, and machinery. Mexico was the second-largest export market for U.S. agricultural products in 2022, with total U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico valued at over USD 28 billion.

Mexico is the 17th-largest investor in the United States, having amassed a total stock of USD 54 billion at the end of 2022. U.S. affiliates of Mexican-owned firms in sectors such as food, communications, plastics, metals, auto components, and business services employed 85,700 U.S. workers in 2018 (the most recent year for which figures are available). Over the last 20 years, U.S. and Mexican supply chains have become increasingly integrated and production sharing —with intermediate steps in the creation of a final good taking place on both sides of the border— is now commonplace. Recent trends in nearshoring following the COVID-19 pandemic have strengthened this integration.”

U.S. Department of Commerce

Let’s build this relationship and reduce Asian imports.

 

[Rdrcr]

You're kind of right, but I recently looked at the numbers and was surprised to see how they've changed. The most recent analysis from the CBO I could find was here: The Federal Budget in Fiscal Year 2023: An Infographic | Congressional Budget Office

It's from 2023 but not much has changed since then.

The annual budget was $6.1 trillion. The biggest category was entitlements, which was $3.8 trillion or 62%. Defense was $805 billion, or 13%, interest on the debt was $659 billion or 11%. Those three things together are 86% of the budget -- quite a bit more than three quarters. The remaining 14% -- $917 billion -- is what they call "discretionary non-defense spending" and it's all the other things that people think of when they think of the government, from law enforcement and courts to highways and national parks.

I first started looking at this in the early 1980's, back then the mix was roughly 30% entitlements, 30% defense and 30% interest, with 10% going to everything else. I had stopped following it for a while and was kind of shocked to see how entitlements have grown, basically doubling their share of the budget. It's also surprising to see how much defense and debt interest have shrunk, 40 years ago the accepted wisdom was that they'd never go down.

Yep, it’s quite frightening!

Mike

 

[jyoutz]

I'll agree with much of your post until you try and call Social Security an "entitlement". The Social Security fund could have been and would be self supporting until the so called excess was skimmed off and put in the general fund coffers.
I paid into SS from the time I was 14 and working for my father on the farm, right up till I turned 65.
If that had gone into a growth fund it would have more then covered what I'll ever draw out. The ones that have never paid into the system and draw on it as a disability it certainly is an entitlement to them.
Also as far as the Medicare system goes I've been paying into that for a long time also, also for the Part B I pay $174.70 per month out of my pocket (going up to $185 for 2025) then I also pay for a supplement every month $266 per month then also $31 a month for prescription insurance also going up in January.
So people that call SS and Medicare an entitlement are correct in that we are entitled to it because we paid for ours and others.
It should not be part of the budget, it was theft when it became part of the annual budget.

Keep in mind that it’s only theft if you don’t receive the benefits you are entitled to. As long as you receive full benefits, there is no theft.

 

[ruffdog]

The Ford Maverick is made in Mexico and the Hyundai Santa Cruz is made in Alabama. If a 25% tariff makes the Hyundai a better buy, it will help American assembly workers. But, where do the profits go? They might come back to the US with Ford but where with Hyundai? Which vehicle has more US content and where were each one designed? If people stop buying the Ford, will that hurt dealers? I'm just thinking that it may be quite disruptive slapping broad tariffs on countries without thinking this through.

 

[ning]

Some more interesting information about US/Mexico trade:

...

Let’s build this relationship and reduce Asian imports.

Only somewhat jokingly, IMO USA + Mexico + Canada should unite.
If we could eliminate (any which way) the crime cartels, we could really have something going.

[also only somewhat jokingly: I found that taking North America was key to any long-term win in Risk... almost as easy as taking Australia and worth on heck of a lot more]

 

[PEJ5]

It is interesting to read the discussion from the US side of the border. The announcement of 25% tariffs is big news in Canada. We export upwards of $600Billion to the US every year. This will have a large effect in Canada and ripple effects on prices in the US.

Lots of data is being reported in the last few days. Here is some of it that may be of interest

Top U.S. imports from Canada in 2023
Value in U.S. dollars.

Oil and gas $103.22B
Transportation equipment $73.44B
Primary metals for manufacturing $35.53B
Chemicals $30.68B
Food products $29.72B
Machinery $22B
Petroleum and coal products $15.82B
Wood products $11.28B
Plastics and rubber products $10.38B
Paper $9.29B
Source: U.S. Census Bureau

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency has seized 43 lbs of fentanyl at the Canada-U.S. border in the last year, excluding October, compared to 21,148 lbs at its southern border with Mexico in the same time period. (The total from Canada is less than one day's worth.)

According to CBP (Canada Border Patrol), in the last year, but excluding October, there were 23,721 encounters at the Canada-U.S. border. At the U.S. southern border with Mexico, there were more than 1.5 million. (People do come to Canada, on a student visa for example, with the plan to cross the border into the US. I personally believe the interest in doing this will sharply decrease in the coming months.)

There are border issues for sure, but they are far different in Canada vs Mexico. Canada is working on the issues. The Canada/US border is 5,525 miles long. Canada's population is only 40M people so we are spread pretty thin across the country! .

We believe that we are pretty good allies and the free trade agreement means that goods and services cross the border easily and this works to the benefit of both countries. These proposed tariffs go against the rules of the free trade agreement.

Tractor attachments from Canada will be affected. HLA, Woodland Mills, etc.

Signed, your neighbor.

 

[check]

It will be interesting to see the outcome for US exports to Mexico if a tariff is enacted. Will U.S. producers be hurt by this?

Mexico Trade & Investment SummaryU.S. goods exports to Mexico in 2022 were $324.3 billion, up 17.0 percent ($47.2 billion) from 2021 and up 50 percent from 2012. U.S. goods imports from Mexico totaled $454.8 billion in 2022, up 18.9 percent ($72.2 billion) from 2021, and up 64 percent from 2012.

Home › americas › mexico

Mexico | United States Trade Representative​

And the number one trading partner is Canada, so I’m trying to figure out what the effects of a 25% Tariff on everything will be, because, on December 1 I have to make a decision on investing all of my 40 years of retirement savings. Will the markets be going crazy up and down And do we have to wait until January 20 to find out what will really be going on?

A lot of talk, speculation, and all the news networks in the last day or so.

 

[350c]

People often look at a policy proposal in a vacuum. They are never in a vacuum. They are used as leverage for a reason. Most never see the light of day. And some "evil" tariffs are still in place, when different administrations could have removed them.

We live in a society that reads one line headlines, and maybe an opinion piece on a subject, but rarely dive deep into something. Ive seen enough sensationalized news, and the very mundane outcomes, to realize most of it is for show.

I sure hope the leaders from other countries, who place tariffs on goods from the US, are reading many of these posts and realizing their tariffs are not good for their citizens as well. You'd never know other countries place tariffs on US goods from reading these posts; I don't see any negative comments directed toward those countries, just toward the US. If another country places tariffs on US goods, I see no reason not to reciprocate.