Trump just reclassified dairy as steel. That is not satire. That is policy. On August 18, the administration dropped 407 new tariff codes with no exemptions and no grace period. “Many of these new HTS provisions would not normally be considered aluminum or steel derivative products … at least not by any reasonable understanding of those words,” said trade attorney Michael Roll.
https://www.anderinger.com/trump-administration-adds-407-additional-hts-provisions-section-232-aluminum-steel-tariffs/
Dairy products will now be subject to 50% steel and aluminum tariffs.
Just a completely unserious administration. pic.twitter.com/RfzZpVcwmT
— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) August 18, 2025
The math is brutal. Packaging tariffs alone add about $2,400 a year to household costs. Ford bled $800 million last quarter.
Even the American Enterprise Institute admits the tariffs “will likely decrease the number of manufacturing jobs in the US.”
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-non-effect-of-tariffs-on-manufacturing-employment/
The double standard is glaring. China gets 63 percent exemptions. Canada pays 35 percent on autos. Mexico pays 25 percent. “Goods with Country of Origin China (including Hong Kong) 10 percent … Goods with Country of Origin Canada 35 percent … Mexico 25 percent,” reads the latest tariff update.
https://www.internationaltradeinsights.com/2025/08/summary-of-tariff-requirements-updated-august-4-2025/
Supply chain experts are blunt. “This will add more inflationary cost-push pressures to already climbing prices,” said Jason Miller of Michigan State.
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/steel-aluminum-section-232-tariffs-expand-trump/757925/
Yet no one asks why milk is taxed like a muffler. Why allies pay more while Beijing gets carve-outs. Why $1.7 trillion in consumer costs bankroll $2.1 trillion in corporate cuts. Why “national security” means taxing groceries while subsidizing auto parts.
The signal is obvious. Tariffs are not protecting. They are extracting. From households. From allies. From reason itself.
This is not industrial policy. It is corporate socialism dressed up as nationalism. And the evidence is on every grocery receipt.
