1 Day Down 89 To Go - Quick Tariff Update

Gasoline prices that were in the $1.00-$1.50 per gallon range for much of the '80s, '90s, and early 2000s, jumped to over $4.00 per gallon in 2008 which is why today we are "happy" to "only" pay around $3.00 per gallon each time we fill up.

Similarly, yesterday's 90-day pause on the country-specific Reciprocal Tariffs has many importers breathing a sigh of temporary relief if they were importing from a company listed on Annex I despite the reality that as of 4/5/25 there is still a new 10% Universal Import Tariff on all countries. ***disclaimer - all of this could change 3 times before you read this***

Why 90 days? Hard to tell but as you know there are legal challenges to the president having the authority to impose these tariffs at all. Senators Chuck Grassley R-Iowa and Maria Cantwell D-Washington have introduced legislation requiring presidents to get approval from Congress within 60 days for new tariffs.

That number strongly resembles the War Powers Resolution of 1973 a.k.a. the War Powers Act which prohibits U.S. military forces to remain deployed in armed conflict for more than 60 days without approval from U.S. Congress.

Speaking of war, yesterday marked the 160th anniversary of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender to Union General Ulysses S. Grant near Appomattox Court House, Virginia. I say near rather than in Appomattox Court House because a close friend of mine and historian nerd educated me recently that the surrender was signed in a farmhouse located in the village of Appomattox Court House. Most county seats in Virginia were named "Court House" and so Appomattox Court House was the name of a town rather than a building.

This marked only the surrender of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and not the official end of the Civil War. The end was declared 16 months later by President Andrew Johnson who had succeeded President Abraham Lincoln after Lincoln died a day after his assassination on April 14, 1865 (Good Friday) - just six weeks after his second inauguration.

Of course, 1865 is a special year to the Shoule family as it was the year that John W. Hampton founded our great company. Either the New York Post was out of experts =) or they knew of our longevity and so they turned to us for their recent story on the tariff situation.

Click here or on the below photo to read the full story. Not sure why they used our "surrender" faces instead of the photo with us smiling. Oh well. The photo captures generations three and four with photos of our great-grandfather and Poppy in the background. Gammy's photo got blocked by our big heads.

The other thing you might notice when reading the story is that President Trump's desk seems a bit more organized than mine. I'm working on it.