It's the time frame within which alternative sources can be brought on-line.
RE is coming in line , we'll see how fast.
Copper, tho, is another story. The US is sitting on plenty of ore; not plenty of smelting capacity - which would need to be built out. Until that is built out - at least a decade (assuming the investment capital is there) - the costs for building these hi-tech plants, starter homes, defense projects (golden dome, drones, whatever) is increased by the 50% tariff. (To say nothing about the tariffs increasing the costs of the actual mining (huge trucks, the biggest trucks, made with highly tariffed metals), and smelting.)
It's all about priorities - get the high-tech factories built before you raise those construction input costs. Doing everything simultaneously means the cost to break even for the widgets produced will be so high that those widgets will not be competitive with widgets built outside the US.
A planned road map to self-sufficiency - even if self-sufficiency is theoretically possible - may be achievable; a willy-nilly, zig-zagging, throw-it-all-the-wall-announce-on-Monday-suspend-on-Tuesday doesnt get us there. That approach will simply turn the US into an economic island.
Interesting observation about mining and farming; not unreasonable.
With Brazil able to compete with the US in almost all farming exports, and winning the soybean, coffee, citrus, beef competition - that doesn't bode well for our farmers. Brazil’s lower farming input costs -before tariffs - already gave it a leg up; with tariffs and vitriol now swirling around, Brazil's farm exports will bury the US farmers.
But, as Brazil's income increases, so will demand for phones, computers, and glasses; all good for Q. |
