YOUR VIEW: CFP Ilene Davis On Tariffs – The End of America or the Beginning of a ‘Reagan Repeat?’
By Ilene Davis, CFP // April 16, 2025
YOUR VIEW: CFP ILENE DAVIS
I still believe that America’s future is bright, and that our economy – AND AMERICANS – will continue to flourish.
Ever since I read the book One Second After, I’ve been concerned about an EMP as America becomes increasingly dependent on electronics. Then, when the Chinese balloon was allowed to fly across America, spending extra time at many of our military installations.
Maybe all the espionage novels I read (particularly the ones by Jack Carr, Tom Clancy, Brad Thor and Vince Flynn) have made me see places like China, Iran, and Russia as places that would like to see our country destroyed and it concerns me that both our national HEALTH and our national SECURITY, seem to be almost totally dependent on China.
A doctor friend told me he was totally astonished to learn that most of the ingredients for medications that many Americans depend on COME FROM CHINA!
We are only recently seeming to read news about how dependent OUR MILITARY is dependent on rare earth minerals that (hopefully only for now) a majority – COME FROM CHINA!
From what I’ve also read, America is self-sufficient in its ability to provide for our power and food needs. Some fruits and vegetables may come from other countries, but my guess is that if we stop paying farmers to NOT GROW stuff, America will be better off overall.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s worth putting our personal health and national security at risk to be able to buy cheap clothing, toys and other stuff. And keep in mind that during Trump’s first term, despite adding Tariffs on China and other countries, until COVID, America had some of the LOWEST INFLATION during some of the BEST ECONOMIC GROWTH.
That all said, here are my thoughts based on what I’ve said above, and what I’ve been reading:
Referring to the Worldometers.info chart below, the United States comprises 26% of the world’s GDP. If deals are worked out with Germany, Japan, and India, the combined total would be over 38% of the entire world economy.
Another website showed 15% of China’s exports come to the US. If that were cut in half by companies building what was previously imported from China (BTW, Nvidia just announced $500 BILLION of new factories/infrastructure to be invested in the U.S. over the next 5 years, with supercomputers to be mass-produced within 12-15 months. Plus I’ve read that something like $7 TRILLION has been committed by other companies to be invested in the U.S., providing jobs AND PRODUCTS THAT WERE PREVIOUSLY EXPORTED HERE to be manufactured in the U.S.
| # | Country | GDP (nominal, 2023) |
GDP (abbrev.) |
GDP Growth |
Population (2023) |
GDP per capita |
Share of World GDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | $27,720,700,000,000 | $27.721 trillion | 2.89% | 343,477,335 | $80,706 | 26.11% |
| 2 | China | $17,794,800,000,000 | $17.795 trillion | 5.25% | 1,422,584,933 | $12,509 | 16.76% |
| 3 | Germany | $4,525,700,000,000 | $4.526 trillion | −0.27% | 84,548,231 | $53,528 | 4.26% |
| 4 | Japan | $4,204,490,000,000 | $4.204 trillion | 1.68% | 124,370,947 | $33,806 | 3.96% |
| 5 | India | $3,567,550,000,000 | $3.568 trillion | 8.15% | 1,438,069,596 | $2,481 | 3.36% |
From what I’ve been reading, in just the past week, over 100 countries have already called about offering to reduce THEIR tariffs – AND BARRIERS (like Australia not allowing US beef) on U.S. products. Remember, that makes AMERICAN PRODUCTS/SERVICES less expensive to customers in OTHER COUNTRIES. I’ve also read, and this to me may be the most interesting (though what I believe happened back in 2017-2019), is that other countries are BORROWING MONEY to loan/grant/subsidize companies in their countries TO BASICALLY OFFSET OUR TARIFFS.
Here is how I explained it to a client: Suppose China has a product that costs the company there $20, and they sell it to a company in the U.S. for $25. Now, suppose with the tariff, the price would be $30 to the U.S. customer. But instead, China subsidizes the product with $5, so now the effective “cost” to the Chinese company is $15, which means they can now just charge the US company $20, so with the $5 U.S. tariff, the cost would be right back at $25 to the U.S. company EVEN WITH THE TARIFF INCLUDED.
NET RESULT: OTHER COUNTRIES NOW INCREASE THEIR DEBT TO PAY TARIFFS THAT CAN REDUCE OUR DEBT.
I personally think that within the next 3 months, there will be more private sector American jobs that will help produce things customers want and need, that inflation will be moderate, and that most other countries will now make it more affordable for THEIR CITIZENS TO BUY AMERICAN PRODUCTS.
As always, this is just my personal opinion, and I could be totally wrong, but I’m open to hearing from any of you as well. Meanwhile, I continue to believe this has the potential for a “Reagan redo” before year-end.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ilene Davis, a resident of Brevard County since 1971, is a Certified Financial Planner with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Rollins College, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Webster University.
Davis became a stockbroker in 1982, earned her designation as a Certified Financial Planner in 1984, and with a desire to serve clients more on her own terms, opened her own financial consultant office in Cocoa Village in 1986.
She has combined her professional and personal experience with keen financial insight and instinct into her first book, Wealthy By Choice: Choosing Your Way To A Wealthier Future, which was recently published by Tablet Publications of Cocoa Beach and is now available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, TabletPublications.com and ChoosingWealth.com.
She is committed to helping each client create their own “Financial Freedom Fund,” and believes strongly in free market capitalism and a “hand up rather than a hand-out” as the best path to prosperity.
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