Will the Tariffs Hurt?

[00:00:04] You're listening to PBN. You will pay us back the stability.

[00:00:33] Twas the night before tariffs and all through the house. Nobody knew what the hell was going to happen. Especially not the house. Cheers, PBN family. It's Tuesday. First and foremost, right up front, we are going to talk tariffs today. I was late to the party at the Continuity last night. Kind of blew it. But there will be a full-scale apology for our members who showed up.

[00:01:02] We did have a couple hosts not show up, too. So it may have been destiny. That's my way of making me feel better about being late. Listen to the Stephen Menking podcast that we did last night. I don't call that guy. You got to understand. He is somebody I talk to on the air exclusively. I should call him. We should talk to each other on the phone more. But we just don't. So when I get him in front of me, it's... I don't know. It's just nice and special.

[00:01:32] We will reconvene with the Continuity next week. Next Monday, 10 p.m. We'll do a 30-minute Monday night show instead of an hour long. So I don't have to juggle. But all that said... What's up with the tariffs? Hmm? It is the night before tariffs. It's Tariff Eve. What do you think?

[00:01:52] What is the alternative? In other words, if you're scared and you're thinking to yourself, this is a terrible idea. It's going to go terribly wrong. Fine. Fair enough. What's the alternative? Is it that...

[00:02:21] In other words, look at it... We'll start with the beginning of the issue, right? Is it that America should just pay more than everybody else? And when I say, should America pay more than everybody else? I mean you. Do you feel good that you pay more than everybody else in the world for things? In terms of import-export, you know? I mean, that's... At the beginning of the issue, that really is the question, right? I told you...

[00:02:52] I'm going to tell you this story again because it's really weird. Five. Ten. Maybe ten. Probably eight years ago. I created a shirt. I created a shirt brand called No Kings. Okay? And it was merch that I was selling for the Eye on Liberty show. But I just like the concept. I always loved the concept of No Kings. Bow down to no one. You know what I mean? I think it's inherently American. And Donald Trump has been a bit kingish.

[00:03:22] And during his first reign, he was also... It was my biggest concern. Are we going to get a king? You cannot deny the use of executive orders as that. I brought this up before people went crazy. Oh, crazy. Liberals will destroy the country. I know. Those shirts are selling like crazy. I have no idea how. I don't know where people are finding them. I don't promote them at all. I do think that...

[00:03:51] I think the vast majority of those sales are liberals. I really do believe that. What I want to say and what I want you to understand is that... Here at PBN, I have to look at things objectively. Right? If you're going to be a prepper, you have to look at things objectively. A lot of people are jumping ship on preparedness right now. Because Donald Trump is in. So the whole world is going to be perfect. Right?

[00:04:19] You need only read about Putin and Iran for five minutes to understand that things aren't going to be perfect. You know, we've got... There's work to be done and it's going to be unease for the American people. But what I wanted to know truly is what's the deal with tariffs? What are we really waking up to tomorrow? You know, you've got the news and the media. They're going to say tariffs are the worst. You're going to be destitute. You're going to live in a shoe with all your kids and your wife.

[00:04:51] The other side, of course, is the Donald Trump angle. Tariffs are going to be great. We're going to pay off the debt. We're going to do amazing things that no one's ever imagined. We're going to bring manufacturing back to the United States. All those platitudes are fine. They can be out there. But what's the real situation? What's the real situation? There is a child at home with me today and he's having a ball upstairs. So you may hear him. It's real life here. Okay. I'm not in a studio. I'm not Steven Crowder.

[00:05:21] I don't get paid a million dollars an episode on Rumble. You know what I mean? I'm a real person. So what we got going on. I went to why did I go to Grok for this? Why is the search engine dead? Why is the search engine dead? To the average or maybe even, you know, to even the moderate researcher.

[00:05:50] Why is Google dead? Google's dead. It doesn't even know it's dead. I don't know if it knows it's dead or not. When Gemini came out and made Nazis into black people and Native Americans and women, I think that's when Google died as a search engine. The moment that we found out that artificial intelligence algorithms or whatever they are,

[00:06:19] whatever the framework is, was bastardized to any degree. Right? See, you almost can't put constraints on it. That's the weird thing about it. But the moment you realize that it's biased, even to a little, even tainted just a little. Well, that's when the search engine dies. People aren't doing this yet, but they're going to be doing this. Some people are doing it. You hear future Dan talk about it a lot. He's doing this.

[00:06:50] When you type in a query to Grok over at X, what you get is something you simply can't get anywhere else. And if you trust it, which at the moment I do, it's given me no reason not to, then this is what you got. But I want to show you what you got so that you understand what's actually happening over here. Because it's a different thing. I mean, I could do a show on how to use Grok in general.

[00:07:21] But right up here, you'll see at the top of the thing here, it says seven posts. Right? These seven posts are, you can bring them up. You can look at them. You can see what people have, what Grok has pulled from my question. And my question was very simple. It was, well, let's read the question. The question is important. So I asked this question of Grok. What items will Trump's tariffs raise the price of for Americans? Particularly in the short term. Right?

[00:07:50] In other words, what the hell is going to happen next week, next month? You know? Don't give me the platitude. We're going to save the country. We're going to pay off all the $30 trillion of debt while also doing however many billions per day. What's it really going to feel like? You know what I mean? And don't tell me that, you know, you're going to be living in your car. So I need a lot. I need a lot of information. So I asked of Grok this question.

[00:08:17] And like I said, it pulls from seven posts off of the platform. Right? And I have to imagine that each one of these posts is probably somebody with, oh, no, it's not actually. But you see, it's a very take. Right? We got a guy here with a, I don't know what the hell is going on with Roger. Roger's a wild dude. He's got Ukraine flags, Israel flags, Hamas flags. He's got every flag you can put on the thing.

[00:08:44] So we pull from posts. Okay, that's fine. But we also pull from 15 web pages. Right? 15 with taxfoundation.org. You're going to see a lot of these are going to be things you're concerned about. Right? Washington Post, bu.edu, bbc.com, News Nation Now, pbs.org, The Guardian, The Daily Mail. Right?

[00:09:12] Forbes, Whitehouse.gov itself. CNN. So Grok is regurgitating information that is, you know, somewhat left leaning in and of itself, you could argue. And for this particular situation, I think that's perfect. I think that's what I'd rather, if I'm a prepper, if I'm going to prepare as an American for the repercussions of tariffs, then I do want to lean a little bit to the left on the doom and gloom.

[00:09:42] Tell me. Right? Tell me what's what. Food and beverages, fresh produce, dairy and meat, coffee and alcohol from Mexico particularly. Right? Dairy and meat from Canada. Cheeses. Meats. Are items that we can see affected by tariffs.

[00:10:01] 25% tariff will likely increase the costs for U.S. importers on fresh produce, particularly avocados, tomatoes, limes, and other fruits and vegetables imported from Mexico. Right? Right? Now, you know, I'm going to say the ugly thing. Grow your tomatoes. You can't grow avocados. You know what I mean? Most people can't grow avocados. I mean, you can if you've got the will, you know, to do it in your house with a grow leg. But whatever the situation is. It's probably something I should take on. Probably worth undertaking.

[00:10:32] Something to consider. Oh, no. That's not right. That's not right. How do we get that back? Huh? I kind of would rather be tiny for this. Here's a big one. All right? This is a big one that we should consider. It's too late, largely, for a lot of us. Well, maybe not. Because there's inventories that need to be backfilled. Right? So there's a good chance that your car company has inventory.

[00:11:00] Well, they definitely have inventory that they can fix your car with now. U.S. imports cars and auto parts heavily from Canada, Mexico under the USMCA framework. With vehicles often crossing borders multiple times during production. A 25% tariff on these imports is projected at thousands of dollars to the cost of new cars and trucks in the short term. So replacement parts for repairs will also likely rise in price. Affecting both new and used car owners. Okay?

[00:11:29] Maybe a good time to focus on repairs. Maybe a good time to set aside some cash to do the repairs that need to do it. Electronics and consumer goods. Another big one you need to upgrade. You know, China's going to get the 20% tariff. And goods like smartphones, laptops, tablets, and video game consoles imported from China will face 20% tariff. Right? Footwear and apparel.

[00:11:58] 99% of shoes sold in the U.S. are imported. Well, we don't make no shoe. Wednesday boots. I've heard of them. With China being the major source, tariffs will likely increase prices for sneakers, boots, and clothing items in the short term. Toys. Lumber is a big one from Canada. 70% of U.S. softwood lumber imports from Canada. 25% tariff. They're not happy. You know what I mean?

[00:12:27] Mexico is a significant supplier of gypsum for drywall. Again, like, well, let's just stay on task. Energy products. I ain't worried about that. Appliances. 12%. Short-term impact considerations. So here's the Grok take. Which is interesting. I'm not saying that the short-term impact considerations break down by Grok here is like the word of God.

[00:12:56] But let's read it. I haven't read it. In the short-term, weeks to months, these price increases are expected because importers, U.S. companies, pay tariffs and often pass the cost to consumers. The integrated North American supply chains mean that even goods produced domestically may rise in price if they rely on imported components. Retaliatory tariffs from Canada, Mexico, China announced in early March 25 could further amplify the costs by targeting U.S. exports like agricultural products.

[00:13:24] However, the exact scale of price hikes depends on factors like whether companies absorb some costs, shift production elsewhere, or face reduced demand, which may take longer to adjust.

[00:13:33] While some exemptions, a one-month delay in March 25 might temper immediate impacts the broad scope of these tariffs, suggested Americans will notice higher prices on these everyday items relatively quickly, likely within the first full half of 2025, unless negotiations or policy reversals occur.

[00:13:54] However, that's the deal.

[00:14:26] There's no denying that if America is being taken advantage of, then Americans are being taken advantage of. And we know that countries have no problem with that. That's the issue. They have no problem with that. NATO has no problem with our kids going to the German border and standing guard against the Russians and dying. No issue. You know what I mean?

[00:14:53] And it would be the vast majority of American young kids and young people who would do that. No, no issue. They have no problem with us sinking all the money into it. Right. And it's the same deal with these tariffs. They have no problem. China. No problem. With all industry leaving this country and going to Shenzhen. No issue. Nobody's laying up awake at night going, well, I sure hope they figure it out in America. You know what I mean?

[00:15:23] They don't lay there and worry. Canadians aren't laying up at night worrying about the fentanyl epidemics in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania because the steel industry is gone. Right. Right. So what? So what's the alternative? Are we supposed to sit here and bellyache as Americans that, oh, my God, we can't put that kind of pressure on these countries? We should just eat it. We should just eat it and watch all of our industries disappear. All the manufacturing disappear.

[00:15:55] And here's the kicker. Who's everybody go to when shit goes wrong? Who shows up at the front door? Hey, we just had an earthquake. We could use a few billion. Hey, we've got these terrorists running amok in our country. We could use some intel. We could use some aid. Hey, Russia's on our front door. We need help. They don't fucking go to Canada. Nobody's calling Trudeau up like, hey, man, can you send some tanks and some aircraft carriers to the Red Sea? No.

[00:16:27] So to me, you know, if you think that we're going to live the way that we have lived, I would also ask you, is the way that we live the way that we should be living anyway? The average American. Like, look at the life of the average American, the source of their income, the source of their food, the source of their pleasure.

[00:16:52] And ask yourself, like, is the way that things are the way that they should be anyway? What is up, Firewall Forge, in the chat? And I think you'd be hard. It's time to think bigger. Think outside the box. You know what I mean? It's true. Prices are going to go up due to tariffs. But what is the alternative? Truly.

[00:17:19] I mean, take like all bargaining and all deal making and all, you know, bargaining chips off the table. And just say that perhaps the tariffs are creating a fairness across the world. Which, I mean, already it can never be fair. Even if everything was fair in trade 100%, 50-50, right? Even if it was 50-50 in trade between all nations. It can never be fair with the U.S.

[00:17:49] Because we come. Right? You call, we come. That's how it goes. Mine, what was it? Thailand? Who had the big earthquake? You know we're going to be there. We're going to be there with the most money, the most people, the doctors. Right? America comes. That's what we do. We show up. And we show up with the funds.

[00:18:14] So I really do think that these countries who have their, you know, backs up should really wrap their head around that. I think the citizens of the nation should think about that. I think the citizens of these nations should really think about that. If Russia showed up, if Russia figures out, oh, we can cross the Arctic. And you know what would be really good? These new waterways, these ice channels that are opening up. We can cross the Arctic. And it would be really cool if we get our hands on some Canadian oil.

[00:18:42] Or maybe if we could just take some land up there in the northern parts of Canada. They can't stop us. And we'll hold that land. And maybe we'll start to drill on that land, too. You know, we like our oil. Us Russians. And if Russia decides to do that, do you think Trudeau is going to say, it's time to activate our unstoppable military and take care of these Russian, you know, whatever?

[00:19:08] I called Russians something the other day or months ago, maybe years ago, and people got upset. But I don't care. Why do I care about that? Ivins, remember? Do you guys remember that? Anyway, so like Trudeau is going to like, you know, turn the military muster up and kick Russia out of their country alone. Nobody's going to do that. They're going to call Donald Trump immediately.

[00:19:36] Hey, I know we've been fighting a little bit. There's something strange going on. I think the Russians might be approaching my nation. Can you do something about it? That's everybody. Mexico's in the same boat. Mexico's in the exact same boat, you think about it. Their country's overrun by drug cartels. It's probably run by drug cartels. Who's going to make the difference? If anybody's going to make the difference in what do you think?

[00:20:04] If the amazing and stellar and straight and narrow military of Guatemala is going to come up from the south and help Mexico with its drug cartel problem? No, it's going to be the U.S. It's going to be U.S. soldiers, U.S. kids. The same old thing. Right? Right? So what really boggles my mind is that we have a president who is saying, I want fair trade between nations.

[00:20:30] And all the nations are going, I can't believe it. And of course, the left wing media, the same thing. Right? Is it going to sting? It's probably going to sting on some things. Yeah, it's probably going to sting. But you have been preparing for sting, I hope. I hope for a long time, if you've been looking at my silly face for all these years or listening to my voice, that you have been preparing for some sting. A little? Just a little.

[00:21:00] You should at least look at tomatoes and go, I think we can handle that. Right? Like if the price of tomatoes goes up 10 times because they're grown in Mexico. And by the way, dude, like tomatoes? Really? Like, have you had a tomato from the supermarket in a while? What are we losing on that end?

[00:21:24] So, yeah, you should be looking at tomatoes and going like, oh, you got a 25% increase on, oh, my God, maybe I can handle the tomatoes. Or maybe a local farm by me can handle the tomatoes. I really do feel like a lot of the stuff that's going to sting is, yeah, exact. Firewall Forge in chat says haven't felt the sting of eggs in a while. I saw your haul the other day too, man. Not bad at all. But that's what I'm saying.

[00:21:53] A lot of this stuff is kind of nudging America back into place. Nudging America out of a weakened and dependent state that we shouldn't be in anyway. Why should the richest nation in the world with the most freedom in the world be taking everything they can get from the Chinese who hate them? You know what I mean? Fundamentally.

[00:22:20] Taking them from a nation that is licking its chops looking at one of our allies. Preparing to engage with Taiwan and the United States. I mean, there's no getting around that. It's a one for one. So are the tariffs going to hurt? Sure, they're going to hurt. Okay. Sure, they're going to hurt. But I ask you, what's the alternative?

[00:22:48] We bow down to the world and say, oh, yeah, sure. Take all of our manufacturing and put it in China. And when China collapses, who are you going to go to? The Chinese population decline is going to assure the Chinese manufacturing suffers. Someone else will move into the fray. But there will be an ugly time. And when that happens, who are you going to? Right?

[00:23:11] When China begins to falter and fall apart, as it will in my lifetime, who are they going to go to for help? Russia? Oh, I know. They're going to call the great leadership of North Korea for help. It's America, baby. We're always there. We always show up with the money and the military and the goods and the doctors. Right? And it just is what it is. So what's the alternative? You know?

[00:23:42] Yeah. Sometimes you got to take care of the big guy. Why? Because if America goes or if Americans get so fed up that they say, close the borders altogether. We can do that. We're one of the few, if not the only nation that can do it all on our own. Try us. You know what I mean? Try the United States of America. Piss the United States of America off enough where it says, let's just do it our way.

[00:24:12] You know what I mean? Let's drill for all the oil that we have in Alaska and the West and the oceans. We don't need any oil. We grow all the damn food already. Right? Once we build a chip manufacturing, we can handle that. What? But I do have a tip for you. Let's see what's inside. Oh, yes.

[00:24:39] It's rare that I, you know, promote my own products here inside the cash. But this is a half-used bag of Disaster Coffee's very own Bunker Beans. Why am I showing you Bunker Beans right now? We talked about tariffs. We talked about rising costs of coffee. Okay? The Bunker Beans are an agricultural product. It says so on things somewhere there. Right? They have to be roasted. They have to be ground.

[00:25:08] They have to be brewed in order to become coffee. But once that happens, you got coffee. Oh, man. I love these little babies. But the beauty... Let's see. I don't even know if my camera is capable of really imbibing in something so small.

[00:25:26] So, what this represents for you is basically an emergency or a stockpile or a food storage or long-term storage solution for coffee. Because until this stuff's roasted, you know, you can basically store it like you would any other grain. These guys are not... I mean, I should date them. I need to start dating them for you when they come in. Because I buy these. You know?

[00:25:55] Phil Rabelais, my... And Andrew Bogo, all the owners at DisasterCoffee.com buy Bunker Beans, store Bunker Beans. And when the price of coffee goes up, you know what we do? We do that. I mean, it stinks for business. You know? It's not going to be good for our customers who buy regular coffee. 504 says you better store some socks and underwear because he don't know how to grow those. It's a good concept.

[00:26:24] So, get your green coffee beans. All right? A five-pound bag's 40 bucks. Five pounds. And it's awesome on top of it. Like, on top of it, you roast it yourself. It's phenomenal. And you should learn how to roast coffee. It's not really that hard. You should learn how to do it, right? And L2 Survive says you can even store them in the ground and grow more coffee. I don't know too many people who grow coffee successfully. I do know Rick Austin, I think, has coffee trees.

[00:26:53] I'm not sure. That's not a path I'd go down. I'd much rather buy the Bunker Beans, store them in Mylar bags, roast them when I need them. And, yeah, that's the thing. L2 Survive. Thanks for joining. Let me put your comment in here so we can promote your channel. L2 Survive at YouTube. One of our longtime listeners, members, an amazing channel of great reviews. The Starlink review was phenomenal.

[00:27:22] The battery charging station, man, was absolutely awesome. I'm a big fan of rechargeable batteries. I think it almost makes too much sense. It's one of those things you're like, why do I ever buy regular batteries? It doesn't make any sense. Chargers for your rechargeable batteries are like $10, $20 at the most. For like double A's, triple A's type stuff. But check out the L2 Survive YouTube channel. It's a great one. It's a great one.

[00:27:51] It's a guy who does a doer, if you will. Check him out. I think that's it for me, folks. I do appreciate you guys. Our sponsor for today's show is Pack Fresh USA because there's really no better way to take advantage of Bunker Beans than some of those incredible Mylar bags from Pack Fresh USA.

[00:28:13] You could probably even get away with roasting, grinding, and packing your own ground coffee up in Mylar bags like this with a little oxygen absorber in there. I'm not saying it would last for five years, 10 years, 20 years, but it'd be good. It'd be good for a while. You know, emergency coffee, whatever. Price goes up.

[00:28:42] So, you know, support the sponsors, so on and so forth. Yeah. I hope you guys enjoyed the show. Tariffs are real. It's a real thing. It's going to happen. Things, prices are going to go up. It is what it is. Maybe Donald Trump will manipulate the situation in such a way that we can pay down the debt. And I think if we use the money made from tariffs to do something like that and to build back manufacturing in the country, you know, look.

[00:29:11] We have lived high on the hog. Maybe not you and me as much, but we as a nation have lived high on the hog on the money of generations yet to come. That's the story. We and a lot of the nations that don't want to pay the tariffs have taken full advantage of not just your kids and not even just their kids, but their kids' kids.

[00:29:42] That's what 30 plus trillion dollars in debt means. It means that we've lived a life of luxury on their dime. It means that Canada's lived a life of luxury on their dime. Mexico, China, Europe, right? These nations are living off the lifeblood of babies yet born to the United States. That's what 30 trillion dollars in debt means. So, yeah, if we want to even out trade, so what?

[00:30:10] And, oh, if it hurts you a little bit, so what? You know what I mean? Because who it's really going to hurt is the generations yet to come. We're going to wake up and say, 150 trillion in debt, huh? That's how I get a start in this world? Well, it's another thing to think. So, yeah, if we've got to figure out alternative ways to live that are going to be better for you in the long term anyway, right?

[00:30:36] Like if you're forced all of a sudden, like, cross your arms and get upset, like, I got to get chickens and I got to get freaking potted plants to grow tomatoes in five-gallon buckets. This is bullshit. In a few months or years' time, you're going to start to realize that your eggs are better anyway. Your tomatoes are better anyway, right? If you figure out how to grow avocados and limes in the house, that's pretty sweet.

[00:31:01] Then American manufacturing kicks up and all of a sudden, instead of like Firewall Forge and Chad said, buying a bunch of socks and underwear from China, you can buy them here in the United States. I don't know, guys. I could be wrong, you know, but to me it just feels like there's no – what's the alternative? That's the question I leave you with. Will the tariffs hurt? Probably. But what's the alternative? You know?

[00:31:31] All right, folks. Subscribe to the podcast, the channel, the whatever it is you're watching this thing on. I know we're all over the place now. And share it. Share it. People need to hear this stuff. People need a voice of reason, and I feel like we do a pretty good job at that. We can go on some political tirades that might make people upset, but I do really feel like, number one, we can be a voice of reason.

[00:31:56] We're not completely and totally under the Donald Trump trance, so we'll look at things objectively. And, you know, I really think – if you listened to the podcast last night with Stephen Menking, he had a great analogy about people trying to find information. Do you know what I mean? Information that they can look at and go, like, I think this guy believes what he's saying. I think I can trust it.

[00:32:25] And I hope that, you know, we do something along those lines. All right? I'll see you guys tomorrow for Surviving America, 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. All right? See you guys. It's been fun. Support the sponsors.