Can this really be happening?/One business of many on the brink if tariff rates don't drop/Delta on travel

China is not backing down as they just hiked their tariff on US goods to 84%. This is getting so ridiculous that it's hard to believe it's actually happening between the two largest economies that make up almost $50 Trillion of global GDP, almost half of the world, let alone a tariff war against the whole world.

If you have any idea as to what a 'China deal' would look like, please let me know because I have no idea. Will it be just a repeat of the 2018 deal where China might buy more soybeans and/or LNG? All I know is the deals that will have to be had as each day nothing gets done is the bailout, AGAIN, of American farmers and all the small businesses who don't have the ability nor the agility in shifting supply chains away from China anytime soon. Ask anyone who procures product from China supply chains and I'd argue that most would say it is the most efficient, productive, reliable source of what they need.

Tainting our global brand is becoming more apparent in the weaker US dollar, except vs the yuan, and the drastic selloff again in US Treasuries. Yes, some of the Treasury selloff I'm sure is further unwind of the hedge fund basis trade (which was long Treasuries and short futures and which I saw yesterday that Torsten Slok estimated the trade to be as large as $800b) but watching interest rates go higher and the US dollar lower at the same time is the historical financial reaction seen in 3rd world countries.

When I saw last Thursday night's lawsuit against Trump to stop his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, I was hopeful there would be a lot more of these which result in some court putting a stop to this. What I read from a Bloomberg News story yesterday instead was very disconcerting. The article was titled, "Top US Retailers Balked at Challenging Trump Tariffs in Court."

Deborah White, general counsel for the Retail Industry Leaders Association said that 'those efforts had been put on hold' as she said "given the current climate, the members of our groups were unwilling to proceed despite the heightened economic uncertainty caused by the various shifting EO's and pronouncements." Keep in mind that members of this group include big retail hitters like Home Depot, AutoZone, Target, Best Buy and others.

What was really alarming was this, "White said more than 30 other groups RILA contacted had also balked at suing over the tariffs. As of Tuesday afternoon, no industry group has filed a legal challenge." The article did cite the New Civil Liberties Alliance suit from last Thursday but another reason why more suits aren't being filed, the article said "In her email, White also noted the potential challenge of finding law firms willing to bring suits over tariffs in light of Trump's attacks on some of the biggest names in the legal profession." She said "Given the multiple EO's that have been lodged at law firms, it's not clear which firms would be willing to do so," she said. That is scary I have to say.