Companies seek ways around Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli. It's Wednesday, April 2nd, 2025, and these are your unbiased

updates. All eyes are on Trump and trade today. The president promising to levy tariffs on our

trade partners. This morning, Straight Arrow News with a deeper look into how the tariffs work

and the way companies react. Also, Republicans claim victory in two Florida special elections

while Democrats rejoice about a judge in Wisconsin. We have the results that will

likely have a national ripple effect. From the Straight Arrow News Studio, bringing the stories

that matter to you from across the United States and around the world. These are today's unbiased

updates. It's Liberation Day, according to President Donald Trump. He has promised a new

wave of reciprocal tariffs today, April 2nd, hitting America's trade partners with levies

in order to level the playing field when it comes to trade. But for many companies

it's not so much a celebration as it is a scramble to figure out how to deal with them or avoid them

Straight Arrow News business correspondent Simone de la Rosario explains how the process works on various levels

This isn't the business world's first round of tariffs by President Trump

but a new and far more exhaustive round calls for new methods. And there are three major categories to go over

Onshoring, nearshoring or friendshoring and offshoring. Let's actually start with the offshoring

After all, it's a practice the president is trying to stop. Offshoring involves moving some of the company's processes or services overseas

Generally, it's used to take advantage of less expensive labor. The most simple example is a company establishing its own factory in China to produce its product

This can expand beyond simple production. Here's a made-up example. AAA Widgets is an American company selling widgets to U.S. customers

To keep prices down and maximize profits, it builds five factories in China

When done, they ship the product to the U.S. and the rest of the world to sell it

Offshoring shouldn't be confused with outsourcing, which is shipping off operations to a third party

In a real world example, that's like TSMC producing chips for NVIDIA or Foxconn assembling iPhones for Apple

Those manufacturers still have relationships with other companies. So that's out of the way

Obviously, for the Trump administration, onshoring or reshoring would be the preferred practice

That means moving production to the U.S., creating high-paying jobs, and reducing dependence on the likes of China

But setting things up in the U.S. can be expensive for American companies and American consumers

When Trump's first-term tariffs took effect, most of which targeted China, companies came up with a third option

This is where near-shoring or friend-shoring comes in. But unlike Trump's first term, it might not work so well this time

The philosophy behind friend-shoring is moving manufacturing and supply chains to countries allied with the U.S., bonus points to countries that have a preferable trade agreement with America

Technically, it's still off-shoring, but different. So let's give the AAA widgets another shot

If the China tariffs are bringing it down, it may friend-shore by moving production to destinations like Mexico, Vietnam, and Malaysia

It reduces dependency on China avoids the high costs of American manufacturing and skirts trade levies Of course this can open up a whole other can of worms

Remember when Vietnam accused Chinese companies of using fake made-in-Vietnam labels to avoid Trump's first-term tariffs

Liberation Day could throw a wrench in any plans to nearshore or friendshore

It's not clear with whom the U.S. will remain friends. Trump has promised levies across the globe and even next door

Like all trade philosophies, the tables can also turn. Take Harley-Davidson, once fully made in America

In response to Trump's first-term tariffs on metals in 2018, the EU put 25% retaliatory tariffs on hogs coming into the bloc

Harley-Davidson responded by offshoring some of its production from the U.S. to Thailand

to reduce tariff costs. Still, the company ate $166 million due to the trade dispute

At the time, Trump called out Harley for being the first to wave the white flag

This time, Harley is calling for the U.S. to hit back if the EU again targets its bikes

That was our Simone del Rosario reporting. President Trump has said some of the tariffs he's imposing this week

could help the government raise more than $1 trillion in the next year or so

which he would use to help reduce the national debt and even potentially offset some income taxes

But some economists say that will not be the case. since consumers are likely to spend less on foreign goods once prices go up

And Goldman Sachs now says there's a 35 percent probability of a recession

up significantly from 20 percent earlier in March. Now from policy to politics

The Republican slim majority in the House just got a little bigger after GOP congressional candidates in a pair of Florida districts won special elections on Tuesday night

Republican State Senator Randy Fine beat Democrat Josh Weil for the District 6 seat

previously held by Mike Waltz, who departed after becoming President Trump's national security advisor

Republicans were very anxious about the race after Weil raised almost $10 million

compared to Fiennes less than $1 million. Polls showed Weil gaining, but Fine pulled it out

I'm super excited for the opportunity. I'm very grateful to voters. While Florida's chief financial advisor, Republican Jimmy Patronus, defeated Democrat Gay Valamont to secure District 1, which Matt Gaetz held until January

President Trump went on Truth Social last night, congratulating Patronus and fine for their wins

In Wisconsin, the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history went to Democrat-backed candidate for the state Supreme Court, Susan Crawford, who beat Republican-endorsed Waukesha County Judge Brad Shymel

The typically low-profile race gained national attention as tens of millions of dollars was poured into the race by billionaire Elon Musk, who spent some $25 million in support of Shymel

As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I'd be taking on the richest man in the world

For justice in Wisconsin And we won In total the candidates and outside groups spent more than million on the race

Going into the election, liberals held a 4-3 majority on the Supreme Court

which is expected to rule on cases including abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power, as well as voting and election laws

The Trump administration is terminating members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's

Byrd flu response team as part of its mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services

The firings confirmed by the American Veterinary Medical Association and Reuters. The move comes as many employees trying to enter office buildings were denied access

as part of the administration's plan to reduce the size of government

Among those let go were leadership and administrative workers at the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. An employee with the Center for Veterinary Medicine says

almost the entire administrative staff was fired, along with employees who work on policy

legal and communications. Managers were also let go, according to the employee

who took a deferred resignation. Now to the war in the Middle East. Airstrikes continue in Gaza

today as Israel says its military is expanding its offensive into larger areas of the war-torn

enclave. In a written statement, Israel's defense minister said the move is meant to crush and

clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure. Israeli officials did not

specify which areas of Gaza would be seized in the expanded operation, but it includes the

extensive evacuation of residents from fighting areas. Israel is once again calling for the return

of hostages taken by Hamas in their initial attack in October of 2023. The militant group

still holds 59 captives, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas released others during ceasefire

agreements. Meantime, President Trump posted on Truth Social that he spoke with the Egyptian

president by phone about possible solutions in Gaza and the success of the U.S. airstrikes

against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Famous actor Val Kilmer, who played Iceman in Top Gun

and the Caped Crusader in Batman Forever, has died at the age of 65. His daughter confirmed

his death to the Associated Press. Kilmer died of pneumonia Tuesday night. He was diagnosed with

throat cancer in 2014, but recovered after undergoing two tracheotomies. Kilmer's career

hit its pinnacle in the early 1990s as he starred alongside Kurt Russell and Bill Paxton in 1993's

Tombstone and alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Heat. Actor Josh Brolin, a friend of

Kilmer, posted a tribute to him on Instagram saying, you were a smart, challenging, brave

uber-creative firecracker. There's not a lot left of those. I once saw him at the Albuquerque

Airport as he walked by, and I was at ticketing. Pretty cool just seeing him. Finally this morning

the NFL is getting rid of its chain gangs for the 2025 season. Instead, they will determine whether

teams have made a first down by using Sony's Hawkeye system of six 8K cameras placed around

every stadium to optically track the position of the ball. However, the chain gang, which is a

nickname of the team of officials that walk onto the field in critical moments to measure whether the ball has gone 10 yards will remain on the field in a secondary capacity That not the only change coming to the 2025 season Straight Arrow News

sports reporter Chris Francis has details on what was and was not decided at the most recent

owners meetings. The NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach, Florida wrapped up Tuesday with a few rules

changes, but not the big moves most expected. That doesn't mean those proposed changes are dead

just that more discussion is needed. The headliner was the Green Bay Packers' proposed ban of the Tush Push play

No vote was taken. The proposal was tabled for further discussion, perhaps at the next owners' meetings in May

Banning the play, made famous by the Philadelphia Eagles, was reported to have just 16 of the 24 votes needed

The Buffalo Bills, who used it second most in the league after the Eagles, believe it's a player safety issue and they would like it banned

The owners want to see more data in that regard. It's two things. It's force, added force, number one, and then the posture of the players

being asked to execute that type of play, that's where my concern comes in

Another potential rule that was tabled, the Detroit Lions proposal that would change the way teams are seeded for the playoffs

After the number one seed with a bye and home field advantage, the other teams would be seeded by record, with no advantage given to teams that win their divisions

Several new rules, however, were adopted Tuesday. The new kickoff setup is now permanent after last season's trial run, with one slight change

The touchback spot has been moved from the 30 up to the 35-yard line

which the league expects will increase returns. A new overtime rule now gives both teams a possession

regardless of whether the first team scores a touchdown, just like the playoffs

And there were several new features added to replay assist, including first down measuring and the ability of replay officials to pick up flags

thrown for things like face mask violations, running into a roughing the kicker, and horse collar tackles

There was also news on the free agent front. The biggest fish still out there is quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but maybe not for long

Tuesday, Steelers president Art Rooney talked about some positive signals leading to Rodgers joining the team

such as pictures posted on social media of Rodgers throwing to new Steelers receiver D.K. Metcalf on the UCLA campus over the weekend

Yeah, I would say it was a good sign that he wanted to do that. And, you know, we keep hearing that, you know, he's, I guess, headed in our direction

And so that seems to be all signs are positive so far

Rooney did acknowledge it has taken longer than expected to get a commitment from Rodgers

and that they will not wait forever, just, quote, a little while longer

One possible but not so exact deadline could be the NFL draft, which begins April 24th

Teams usually like to have their major free agent signings wrapped up by then

in order to know where to focus during the draft. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis

Those are your unbiased updates for this Wednesday. We'll see you back here tomorrow

For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli. Have a great day