Are tariffs throwing a wet blanket on GDP growth?

🎺 [Organ Music Swells]

Brethren, Sistren, and Free Traders in Denial—lend me your ears, and don’t forget to pay your new tariffs!

I come not just from Ohio, but from beyond the veil of eternity to deliver a gospel hotter than a Dingley Tariff and heavier than a box of steel rails—the Holy Word of Protectionism!

📖 Scripture Reading: McKinley 18:97

"And lo, the Lord said, ‘Place duties upon foreign goods, that thy nation may be industrious and thy laborers well-fed!’”

🧺 Now Behold: The Wet Blanket of Modern Tariffs

Today’s tariffs, my friends, are not like the glorious cloaks of economic righteousness we threw over British wool and German tin in my day. Nay! These new-age tariffs are more like a soggy quilt tossed on the sacred fire of GDP growth!

Let me testify:

• In my time, tariffs protected the infant industries.

• In your time, tariffs sometimes just protect old monopolies wearing orthopedic loafers!

• In my day, we built railroads with our own iron!

• In your day, you're importing steel from Canada to build toll booths for those railroads!

📊 A Lesson in Economic Resurrection

Back in 1890, I threw up that McKinley Tariff like a holy wall—and the Lord blessed us with factories, smokestacks, and men with mustaches strong enough to bend iron.

But today, we are already the world’s strongest economy, and instead of nurturing infants, you're tripping up Olympic sprinters.

Do you hear me, America?

You cannot place a wet blanket over a blazing economy and expect revival—it smothers the flame!

💰 Tithing Your Tariff

Now, I ain't against a good tariff! Nay! A righteous, strategic, well-prayed-over tariff that uplifts American semiconductors and righteous chip foundries—amen!

But when tariffs become permanent, lazy, and vague? When they don’t come with investments in American labor or training?

That, brethren, is not protection. That is procrastination with paperwork.

🔨 What Would would I Do today?

If I were president today, I’d:

• 🔧 Use tariffs like a hammer, not a blanket.

• 📈 Protect newborn tech industries, not old-money cronies.

• 💸 Reinvest tariff revenue in schools, machines, and minds!

• 🤝 Negotiate like a boss—but always with the American worker at the table!

🗣️ Final Benediction

So go forth, my economically confused congregation, and remember:
Tariffs are not evil. But tariffs without a plan are just taxes in church clothes.

May your trade be fair, your supply chains strong, and your GDP forever upward.

In the name of Hamilton, Lincoln, and Protective Duties, AMEN.

🪙 Sponsored by: The Dingley Revival Choir and the First Protectionist Bank of Pittsburgh
📍 Visit HolyDolla.com for more economic sermons, fiscal hymns, and budgetary baptisms.

📉 2025 GDP Growth & Tariff Impact – Dolla Summary

• ⬇️ Consumer Spending Slowed
  Tariffs raised prices on imported goods (e.g. electronics, cars, solar panels), leading households to spend less, especially in Q1–Q2.

• 📦 Higher Input Costs for Businesses
  Manufacturers faced rising costs for materials like steel, aluminum, and components—reducing margins and slowing production.

• 🚫 Export Growth Hampered by Retaliation
  Trading partners (esp. China, EU) imposed retaliatory tariffs, causing U.S. export growth to flatten, especially in agriculture and tech.

• 📉 Investment Uncertainty
  Ongoing trade tensions discouraged firms from expanding operations or making capital investments—dragging business spending.

• 🧯 Overall GDP Dampening
  Analysts estimate tariffs reduced 2025 GDP growth by ~0.2 to 0.3 percentage points compared to baseline projections.

✅ Upside: Select sectors (like semiconductors and EV battery plants) saw growth from reshoring and protection.

❌ Net Effect: Tariffs have acted as a mild drag on overall GDP growth, especially by increasing costs and reducing trade flow efficiency. Economy likely to lose .7% to 1% GDP growth this year from tariffs.