The exodus of people began the morning after Trump won the election by a landslide. The leftist stragglers of X (formerly Twitter) have said goodbye and started posting new handles for Bluesky, a decentralized Twitter clone. X helped elect Trump, but who knows what will happen on the platform once Trump takes office. That's why hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing X.
This is just one of many ways people are protecting the technology in their lives from the inevitable changes that will come with Trump's second term in office. It's still early days, and it's not clear exactly what President Trump's tech policy will be, but we can get a sense of some of his priorities based on what he's said.
We know that President Trump has promised tough tariffs on imports and said he will do them from day one. This will likely increase the price of your next laptop, smartphone, or video game console. President Trump is also expected to rescind President Biden's executive order on AI soon after taking office, and what he plans next will impact how the technology is used. President Trump's promise to cancel unspent funds under the Inflation Control Act (IRA) could end high rebates on purchases of climate-friendly technologies like heat pumps and solar panels. . He even threatened to eliminate the $7,500 tax credit people currently receive for the purchase of certain EVs.
Again, we don't actually know what President Trump will do after taking office. The former president and the current president-elect have a track record of following through on even the most controversial promises, so they would be wise to be on guard. One easy way to do that is to buy your products before President Trump's next policy makes them more expensive.
President Trump has proposed imposing 10 to 20 percent tariffs on all products imported into the United States in an effort to lower prices and create jobs. Products from China will be subject to an additional 60% tariff. He also threatened to impose 100% tariffs on imports from Mexico, the United States' largest trading partner, if it did not stop migrants from crossing the border.
Needless to say, this will increase prices for consumers. The Yale Institute for Budget Studies estimates that the tariffs would cost the average American household up to $7,600 a year, with an initial price increase of about 5%.
But the numbers get even worse when you look specifically at goods that come from China, where many home appliances are manufactured. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) estimates that if the costs of the tariffs were passed directly to consumers, the prices of laptops and video game consoles would rise by 46 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Smartphones will rise by 26%. For example, the current list price for a new iPhone 16 Pro is $1,000, but if you want to buy the new model next year, it could cost more than $1,250 if Apple passes on the cost of the tariffs.
While there is no guarantee that prices will rise as much as some predict, it is very likely that President Trump will implement these tariffs. As it turns out, he did just that in 2016.
“Everyone is taking the threat of tariffs seriously,” said Ed Blajitova, CTA vice president of commerce. “He has made a campaign promise to impose these tariffs, and we expect he wants to do that.”
The Supreme Court could block him, which would save the country some economic pain. But even if the tariff plan fails, the mass deportations promised by President Trump are expected to cause an unwanted resurgence in inflation.
So if you're already thinking about buying a new laptop or upgrading your phone, you'd better consider doing it sooner rather than later. And since Black Friday is just around the corner, you might be able to get some special pre-tariff deals.
Buy a heat pump or an EV (or both!).
William Tobin of the Atlantic Council said the Inflation Control Act was “one of the most significant government investments in the U.S. economy since President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.” This landmark bill would increase investment in renewable energy by $3 trillion and could lead to sales of electric vehicles surpassing gasoline-powered cars by the end of the decade.
Many efforts are also being made to make the latest climate change technologies more accessible to millions of people. The IRA has provided nearly $9 billion in rebates to households that install energy-efficient appliances, heat pumps, solar panels, and even new windows in their homes.
Trump wants to take away much of this funding. The president-elect said he would “end the Green New Deal (which I call the Green New Fraud)” and “cancel all unspent funds from the misnamed Inflation Control Act.” IRAs and the Green New Deal are not the same thing. Nevertheless, the incoming Trump administration may attempt to repeal Biden's historic climate change bill, but that will not be easy for many reasons. The biggest reason is that President Trump would need the cooperation of Congress to cancel the fund, and taking free money from voters is probably not common for lawmakers.
“It's also going to have a negative impact on a lot of his supporters,” said Scott Hardman, deputy director of the Center for Electric Vehicle Research at the University of California, Davis. “A lot of benefits have moved to red states, so it seems like it would be a bit of an odd decision to change that.”
Another enemy of President Trump is electric cars. In his speech at the Republican National Convention in July, Trump said he would “repeat the electric vehicle mandate on day one” as part of a broader plan to eliminate the “Green New Scam.” The plan includes eliminating the $7,500 tax credit and other incentives introduced by the Biden administration to make EVs more affordable for more Americans.
This appears to conflict with the interests of President Trump's biggest supporter, Elon Musk, who was recently appointed to head the newly created Department of Government Efficiency. Mr. Musk also runs Tesla, the world's most valuable electric car company. Tesla has benefited greatly from government subsidies for years. Some think Musk will change Trump's mind on EVs, but it's also possible that Musk thinks Tesla stands to benefit. Meanwhile, after years of growth with government subsidies, Tesla is now a trillion-dollar company making billions of dollars in profits every quarter. Hardman said the subsidy is no longer needed.
Regarding Musk and EV subsidies, Hardman said, “Another idea is that Musk doesn't support subsidies because it would hurt Tesla's competitors and give Tesla even more of an advantage in the EV space. Because it will become.”
You may have noticed that the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are currently skyrocketing thanks to President Trump's victory. Trump embraced the crypto community during his campaign, and many crypto investors believed his second administration would streamline regulations, establish a national crypto stockpile, and begin a crypto renaissance. are.
As tempting as it may be to buy, don't bet on the farm. We've seen the crypto market hot and frothy before, and we've also seen it turn into a crypto winter. The crypto industry also has an incredibly strong lobbying force, helping elect pro-crypto candidates with a 100 percent chance of winning this year's cycle. However, it is still unclear what virtual currency is, even for purposes other than financial speculation.
So, unless you are an expert in this field, you may want to consider purchasing a heat pump to heat your home before dropping thousands of dollars on a cryptocurrency ring. This is not financial advice. All I'm saying is that there's actually something to some technology, and it has value.
The other thing about all this discouraging information about what President Trump will do about America's climate policy is that it highlights one very important truth: is. That means he hasn't done it yet. Biden's tax credits and rebates are still in place. So if you're already thinking about buying a heat pump, switching to an EV, upgrading your iPhone, or frankly buying something imported, you have just over two months to do it before Inauguration Day. That's it.
“As a consumer myself, I would want to buy something before January 20th if I could get it cheaper,” said CTA's Buzhitova. And I'm planning on it. I love trading.
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