Tariffs and The Holiday Special

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It’s Friday of “Hate Week,” where everyone Ohio ❌akes sure to not even acknowledge The Team Up North ahead of the rivalry game on Saturday. O-H! Here’s a video specifically for my friend Jim Trainor. If you aren’t Jim Trainor, you can skip it. 😉

In This Issue

• “Bueller?”

• Black Friday

• Making the Video

• Making the Audio

• Charge Your EV Anywhere

• More Goodies

“Bueller?”

In the past week, the incoming Trump Administration announced its tariff plans, which resulted in an additional 10% duty on imported goods from China, and a 25% import tax on goods from Canada and Mexico. Most economists think this is a not great idea, and I tend to agree with them. You don’t need an MBA to see the cost of goods is going to skyrocket.

Here’s a video that goes into detail about when the U.S. introduced tariffs, what they’re used for, how they can be good, how they can be bad, and how painfully obvious it is that Trump doesn’t know what they are.

The immediate impact on the automotive industry will be significant. Vehicles assembled in either Canada (Dodge Charger, Chrysler Pacifica, some GM pickups, etc…) or Mexico (Ford Maverick, Nissan Sentra, etc…) will be hit with a 25% tax at the border on the value of the good. Automakers most certainly won’t eat that cost, so expect vehicles in those countries to have price increases of at least 25%.

Why at least? Everyone in the chain is going to want to protect their margins, so the shipping company will raise its prices, the automaker will raise its prices, the dealerships will raise their prices, and so on.

U.S.-built cars aren’t immune, since many components that go into these cars come from suppliers in one of the tariff countries, and again, to protect margins, prices will be increased through the chain.

Automakers who aren’t hit hard by these tariffs might still look at this opportunity to raise prices. During the last trade war, the prices of washing machines went up. Companies raised the prices of dryers — not affected by the new tariffs — because they could. There’s no reason to assume capitalism won’t net the same results here.

How bad will it get? It depends. Some vehicle lines that are already struggling might just be dead. Many people will also get priced out of new cars altogether, and more demand in the used space will drive up prices there. Retaliatory tariffs will force people from other countries to buy from somewhere other than the U.S., due to increased prices for them, which depresses our economy even more.

While this isn’t as significant in automotive, deporting 10 million-plus workers while also increasing tariffs is most certainly a recipe for higher prices across the board.

My advice? If you’re going to buy a new car in the next four years, you should probably start looking now. Prices are only going to go up. The same probably applies to any durable goods, like a new computer or washer and dryer.

It’s possible that is just all puffery to intimidate our closest trade partners. But I’m tired of giving him the benefit of the doubt, and you should be, too.

Black Friday

In the United States, it is the day after Thanksgiving which means that it’s time to find deals on the internet! Since tariffs are likely going to drive up the price of goods in January, this might be your best time to stock up on both stuff you need and stuff you don’t!

Since this is an independent publication run by one person, I’m going to get in on the Black Friday action by offering you some sweet affiliate links on deals. But I’m going to do it with a bit of a twist.

Throughout the year, I use a variety of different products in my day-to-day workings. Some of it is to make the written content, like you see here, while other things help make video and audio happen. I also try out new things and some of those things, believe it or not, I actually like.

So I want to run down a list of things I find useful that you also might find useful. If you do click a link, I might get a teeny-tiny percentage of that sale.

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Making the Video

• DJI Pocket 3 - This is the most useful camera in the entire universe. It can track people and things, which makes it killer for car-to-car videography. It’s also so easy to use even I can use it. Many of my colleagues use it, and if you think you want to shoot a video, it’s where you should start.

• MacBook Air 13-inch - If you’re just futzing around with video, a MacBook Air is a great laptop for editing while still being portable enough to travel with. It’s not AS fancy as the Pro, and it’s not AS fancy as the newest M4 chip, but it’s heavily discounted for Black Friday and is better than what you’re using now. If you use software optimized for Apple Silicon, it’s also blazing fast.

Making the Audio

• DJI Mic Mini - DJI hardware is pretty solid, and if you’re looking to record audio (either for standups in video, interviews remotely for podcasts, or anything else remote), the Mic series is great. The company just dropped a mini version that’s even smaller, which makes you look even more professional.

Charge Your EV Anywhere

• NACS to CCS Adapter - If you have an EV that can use the Tesla Supercharger network, you probably need an adapter. With long wait times from OEMs, you might just want to grab one for yourself. I have one for testing cars since adapters don’t always ship with press cars.

• Anker Portable Charging Cable - Many EVs don’t come with charging cables anymore. If yours didn’t come with one, or you’d like a spare to keep with you, this one from Anker at less than $140 is a great way to go.

More Goodies

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