After days of chest-thumping about 125% tariffs on Chinese imports, President Trump did what he always does when the big-money tech giants start sweating: he cracked like a cheap phone screen.
But this time, he did it with flair — issuing sweeping exemptions for smartphones, laptops, semiconductors, and basically anything a Fortune 500 donor might care about.
The new carve-outs, are a dream for companies like Apple and Nvidia — and a slap in the face to everyone else still choking on the cost of aluminum bolts and HVAC parts. If you thought this trade war was about standing up to China or protecting American workers, congrats — you’ve been played.
And if you’re wondering where Rep. Keith Self was during all this tariff whiplash, here’s your answer: too busy cheering the escalation to notice the retreat.
Just days ago, Self was parroting Trump’s “tough on China” line like it was stitched on a flag. He called the tariffs “bold leadership” — framing them as a righteous punch in America’s economic brawl with Beijing. But now? As Trump hands tech billionaires a golden exemption while leaving small businesses scrambling, Self has gone radio silent.
Instead of addressing the fallout, Rep. Keith Self is busy tweeting about “saving our elections” from the imaginary threat of undocumented immigrants voting — a made-up crisis if there ever was one. In Texas, the rate of documented unlawful voting is less than 0.0001% — or about 30 cases out of more than 24 million votes. But hey, who needs facts when you’ve got hashtags… and what you assume is a gullible public?
On the trade war? No update. No questions. No apology for selling a narrative that just got steamrolled by reality.
Let’s be clear: these exemptions aren’t some brilliant economic strategy. They’re a political retreat disguised as a cosmetic fix and sold as winning strategy. Wall Street panicked, the bond market twitched, and swing-state polling turned sour. So, in classic Trump fashion, the White House blinked, blamed the media and ran for cover.
And Beijing noticed. China’s Ministry of Commerce called the move a “small step” and said the quiet part out loud: if the U.S. wants to talk, it can start by canceling all reciprocal tariffs. Meanwhile, China is holding firm — keeping its own tariffs on U.S. exports as high as 125%. If this was supposed to be a gesture of goodwill, Beijing’s response boiled down to: “Nice try. Do better.”
Meanwhile, businesses in Collin County are left sorting through the mess. Importers, retailers, and local manufacturers were already trying to navigate the tariff chaos. Now they’re told, “Some stuff’s exempt — if you’re in tech. Everyone else? Good luck.”
It’s pure policy whiplash. And Rep. Self, who had no issue hyping the “boldness” of this trade war when it scored him retweets, now has nothing to say about the fallout. No explanation for how this helps the average business owner in TX-03. No concern for how a trade policy that changes with stock tickers is supposed to be stable economic leadership.
Because here’s the truth: if you’re a billion-dollar chipmaker, you got a carve-out. If you’re running a parts warehouse in McKinney or sourcing packaging in Princeton, you’re still getting clobbered.
This isn’t leadership. It’s survival politics. Trump didn’t backtrack because the tariffs were flawed from the start (they were). He backed down because the pressure got loud — from the wrong people. The rich ones.
And our congressman? He’s nowhere to be found when it comes to cleaning up the mess he helped sell.
TX-03 deserves better than soundbites followed by silence. We deserve a representative who understands what policies actually do — not just how they sound on Fox News.
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