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fish bowl DETROIT (AP) — If Donald Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, the price increases that could follow will collide with his campaign promise to give American families a break from inflation. Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, booze and other goods. The president-elect floated the tariff idea, including additional 10% taxes on goods from China, as a way to force the countries to halt the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S. But his posts Monday on Truth Social threatening the tariffs on his first day in office could just be a negotiating ploy to get the countries to change behavior. High food prices were a major issue in voters picking Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris, but tariffs almost certainly would push those costs up even further. For instance, the Produce Distributors Association, a Washington trade group, said Tuesday that tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruit and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers when other countries retaliate. “Tariffs distort the marketplace and will raise prices along the supply chain, resulting in the consumer paying more at the checkout line,” said Alan Siger, association president. Mexico and Canada are two of the biggest exporters of fresh fruit and vegetables to the U.S. In 2022, Mexico supplied 51% of fresh fruit and 69% of fresh vegetables imported by value into the U.S., while Canada supplied 2% of fresh fruit and 20% of fresh vegetables. Before the election, about 7 in 10 voters said they were very concerned about the cost of food, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. “We’ll get them down,” Trump told shoppers during a September visit to a Pennsylvania grocery store. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. People looking to buy a new vehicle likely would see big price increases as well, at a time when costs have gone up so much they are out of reach for many. The average price of a new vehicle now runs around $48,000. About 15% of the 15.6 million new vehicles sold in the U.S. last year came from Mexico, while 8% crossed the border from Canada, according to Global Data. Much of the tariffs would get passed along to consumers, unless automakers can somehow quickly find productivity improvements to offset them, said C.J. Finn, U.S. automotive sector leader for PwC. That means even more consumers “would potentially get priced out,” Finn said. Hardest hit would be Volkswagen, Stellantis, General Motors and Ford, Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska wrote Tuesday in a note to investors. “A 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada would severely cripple the U.S. auto industry,” he said. The tariffs would hurt U.S. industrial production so much that “we expect this is unlikely to happen in practice,” Roeska said. The tariff threat hit auto stocks on Tuesday, particularly shares of GM, which imports about 30% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, and Stellantis, which imports about 40% from the two countries. For both, about 55% of their lucrative pickup trucks come from Mexico and Canada. GM stock lost almost 9% of its value, while Stellantis dropped nearly 6%. It's not clear how long the tariffs would last if implemented, but they could force auto executives to move production to the U.S., which could create more jobs in the long run. However, Morningstar analyst David Whiston said automakers probably won't make any immediate moves because they can't quickly change where they build vehicles. Millions of dollars worth of auto parts flow across the borders with Mexico and Canada, and that could raise prices for already costly automobile repairs, Finn said. The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. said tariffs on tequila or Canadian whisky won’t boost American jobs because they are distinctive products that can only be made in their country of origin. In 2023, the U.S. imported $4.6 billion worth of tequila and $108 million worth of mezcal from Mexico and $537 million worth of spirits from Canada, it said. “Tariffs on spirits products from our neighbors to the north and south are going to hurt U.S. consumers and lead to job losses across the U.S. hospitality industry,” it added. Electronics retailer Best Buy said on its third-quarter earnings conference call that it runs on thin profit margins, so while vendors and the company will shoulder some increases, Best Buy will have to pass tariffs to customers. “These are goods that people need, and higher prices are not helpful,” CEO Corie Barry said. Walmart also warned last week that tariffs could force it to raise prices. Tariffs could trigger supply chain disruptions as people buy goods before they are imposed and companies seek alternate sources of parts, said Rob Handfield, a professor of supply chain management at North Carolina State University. Some businesses might not be able to pass on the costs. “It could actually shut down a lot of industries in the United States. It could actually put a lot of U.S. businesses out of business,” he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who talked with Trump after his call for tariffs, said they had a good conversation about working together. "This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that’s what we’ll do,” Trudeau said. Trump's threats come as arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico have been falling . But arrests for illegally crossing the border from Canada have been rising over the past two years. Much of America’s fentanyl is smuggled from Mexico, and seizures have increased. Trump has sound legal justification to impose tariffs, even though they conflict with a 2020 trade deal brokered in large part by Trump with Canada and Mexico, said William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Clinton administration trade official. The treaty, known as the USMCA, is up for review in 2026. In China’s case, he could simply declare Beijing hasn't met obligations under an agreement he negotiated in his first term. For Canada and Mexico, he could say the influx of migrants and drugs are a national security threat, and turn to a section of trade law he used in his first term to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum. The law he would most likely use for Canada and Mexico has a legal process that often takes up to nine months, giving Trump time to seek a deal. If talks failed and the duties were imposed, all three countries would likely retaliate with tariffs on U.S. exports, said Reinsch, who believes Trump's tariffs threat is a negotiating ploy. U.S. companies would lobby intensively against tariffs, and would seek to have products exempted. Some of the biggest exporters from Mexico are U.S. firms that make parts there, Reinsch said. Longer term, Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the threat of tariffs could make the U.S. an “unstable partner” in international trade. “It is an incentive to move activity outside the United States to avoid all this uncertainty,” she said. Trump transition team officials did not immediately respond to questions about what he would need to see to prevent the tariffs from being implemented and how they would impact prices in the U.S. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own. Sheinbaum said she was willing to talk about the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. problem. ___ Rugaber reported from Washington. AP reporters Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Stan Choe and Anne D'Innocenzio in New York, and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Looking for a gift for your grandchild? Help educate them.North Korea's Kim vows toughest anti-U.S. policy before Trump takes officeDOVER, Del. (AP) — A Delaware judge has reaffirmed her ruling that Tesla must revoke Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar pay package Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick on Monday denied a request by attorneys for Musk and Tesla’s corporate directors to vacate her ruling earlier this year requiring the company to rescind the unprecedented pay package. McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys , who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $5 billion. The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million. The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk’s 2018 compensation package. McCormick concluded in January that Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. The compensation package initially carried a potential maximum value of about $56 billion, but that sum has fluctuated over the years based on Tesla’s stock price. Following the court ruling, Tesla shareholders met in June and ratified Musk’s 2018 pay package for a second time, again by an overwhelming margin. Defense attorneys then argued that the second vote makes clear that Tesla shareholders, with full knowledge of the flaws in the 2018 process that McCormick pointed out, were adamant that Musk is entitled to the pay package. They asked the judge to vacate her order directing Tesla to rescind the pay package. McCormick, who seemed skeptical of the defense arguments during an August hearing, said in Monday’s ruling that those arguments were fatally flawed. “The large and talented group of defense firms got creative with the ratification argument, but their unprecedented theories go against multiple strains of settled law,” McCormick wrote in a 103-page opinion. The judge noted, among other things, that a stockholder vote standing alone cannot ratify a conflicted-controller transaction. “Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here due to multiple, material misstatements in the proxy statement,” she added. Meanwhile, McCormick found that the $5.6 billion fee request by the shareholder’s attorneys, which at one time approached $7 billion based on Tesla’s trading price, went too far. “In a case about excessive compensation, that was a bold ask,” McCormick wrote. Attorneys for the Tesla shareholder argue that their work resulted in the “massive” benefit of returning shares to Tesla that otherwise would have gone to Musk and diluted the stock held by other Tesla investors. They value that benefit at $51.4 billion, using the difference between the stock price at the time of McCormick’s January ruling and the strike price of some 304 million stock options granted to Musk. While finding that the methodology used to calculate the fee request was sound, the judge noted that the Delaware’s Supreme Court has noted that fee award guidelines “must yield to the greater policy concern of preventing windfalls to counsel.” “The fee award here must yield in this way, because $5.6 billion is a windfall no matter the methodology used to justify it,” McCormick wrote. A fee award of $345 million, she said, was “an appropriate sum to reward a total victory.” The fee award amounts to almost exactly half the current record $688 million in legal fees awarded in 2008 in litigation stemming from the collapse of Enron.

PRANCE Delivers Excellent Metal Ceiling and Facade Solutions to BBK Experimental School 12-05-2024 09:10 PM CET | Business, Economy, Finances, Banking & Insurance Press release from: ABNewswire Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/uploads/6e0b8a4c3387f7c875b147df29d0cca7.jpg PRANCE Metalwork Building Material Co., Ltd., a leader in architectural ceiling and facade solutions, is proud to unveil its latest milestone: contributing to the construction of the Dongguan BBK Experimental School. This state-of-the-art educational facility, located on Lianhu Road in Chang'an Town, Dongguan City, encompasses a sprawling 215,000 square meters and reflects a commitment to creating an inspiring and modern international teaching environment. Redefining Educational Spaces Designed to address the educational needs of employees' children while providing top-tier learning experiences, the Dongguan BBK Experimental School incorporates the guiding philosophy of "learning with joy, wisdom in the garden." The architectural concept emphasizes a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere while integrating vibrant colors such as soothing greens, calming blues, and cheerful oranges. These design choices foster an uplifting environment conducive to creativity and learning. PRANCE played an integral role in bringing this vision to life, providing a wide range of architectural metal products and expert solutions. A detailed overview of the project is available in the project video introduction [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyuHIEvOMc8&t=109s ]. Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/uploads/ac7ca00a7b05c06e9409cbc0050d83a9.jpg Architectural Innovations and Product Highlights To achieve the project's goals, PRANCE supplied an extensive range of bespoke architectural metal products tailored to the school's unique requirements: - Ceiling Systems: Metal S-Plank Ceilings, White Profile Baffle Ceilings, Metal Open Ceilings - Wall Cladding: Metal Curving Wall Cladding, Metal Flat Panel Wall Cladding, Metal Carving Panels - Custom Panels: Metal Standard Perforated Panels, Metal Custom Perforated Panels - Specialized Structures: Staircase Series, Metal Bullet Profile Baffle Ceilings - Aesthetic Features: Metal Wood Grain Profile Baffle Ceilings, Metal Square Tubes These elements not only enhance the aesthetics but also ensure durability and functionality throughout the campus, creating a space where education and design intersect harmoniously. Addressing Challenges with Expertise The BBK Experimental School project required a high level of technical precision and innovative problem-solving. PRANCE overcame a variety of challenges to deliver outstanding results: 1. Custom Perforated Panels: The intricate design and placement of perforations demanded meticulous accuracy. PRANCE's advanced production methods ensured that the panels met the exact specifications. 2. Unconventional Color Matching: Achieving the desired tones for aluminum panels involved fine-tuning processes and leveraging the team's expertise in innovative treatments. 3. Curving Wall Cladding: These features, installed in the dormitories and cafeterias, required precise bending to achieve seamless flow and balance. PRANCE ensured meticulous attention to detail during production and installation. Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/uploads/2bda25a508885a4794cb726a60ddeac3.jpg PRANCE's collaboration with the construction team and provision of comprehensive technical support ensured that the project was executed flawlessly from start to finish. Seamless Execution from Start to Finish PRANCE's involvement in the project extended across all stages, from initial measurements to final installation. The company employed a rigorous production process that included: - On-site surveys and feasibility assessments - Custom product design and installation configuration - Advanced manufacturing processes such as cutting, punching, forming, and polishing - Detailed quality inspections, packaging, and transportation Throughout the project, PRANCE's technical experts remained on-site to oversee construction and provide hands-on support, ensuring every detail met the client's high standards. A Testament to PRANCE's Commitment to Excellence The completion of the Dongguan BBK Experimental School demonstrates PRANCE's ability to combine design innovation with technical expertise. By delivering products and services that align perfectly with the school's architectural vision, PRANCE has set a new benchmark for modern educational facilities. Why PRANCE Stands Out? PRANCE's approach to architectural projects is defined by its commitment to providing comprehensive and client-focused solutions. The company offers a full suite of services, including: - Product selection and customization - Feasibility reviews and technical design support - Online technical guidance and follow-up during construction - Quality assurance at every stage of production This holistic approach allows PRANCE to address complex challenges while delivering results that exceed expectations. Image: https://www.abnewswire.com/uploads/7babd602cc9399c00697320687161793.jpg Inspiring the Future of Education The Dongguan BBK Experimental School stands as a beacon of innovation and excellence in educational design. It embodies PRANCE's mission to create spaces that inspire learning while reflecting modern architectural trends. With the completion of the Dongguan BBK Experimental School, PRANCE continues to solidify its position as a leader in architectural metal ceiling and facade, setting new standards for quality and innovation in the industry. Users can visit the official website https://prancebuilding.com/ for any media or commercial inquiries. About PRANCE PRANCE Metalwork Building Material Co., Ltd., headquartered in Foshan, Guangdong, focuses on architectural ceiling and facade solutions that combine cutting-edge technology with superior design. To learn more, email info@prancebuilding.com. Whatsapp: +86 18024167953. Phone: +86-757-83138155. Fax: +86-757-83139722. For a closer look at the project and PRANCE's contributions, watch the project video introduction on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyuHIEvOMc8 Video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/xyuHIEvOMc8 Media Contact Company Name: PRANCE Metalwork Building Material Co., Ltd. Email:Send Email [ https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=prance-delivers-excellent-metal-ceiling-and-facade-solutions-to-bbk-experimental-school ] Phone: +86-757-83138155 City: Foshan State: Guangdong Country: China Website: http://prancebuilding.com This release was published on openPR.Preview: Port Vale vs. Crewe Alexandra - prediction, team news, lineups

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