Good morning.
Saturday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 65. Sunrise is 6:47 and sunset is 4:31 for 9 hours 44 minutes of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 18.8 percent of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman begins his March to the Sea through Georgia towards the city of Savannah.
Trump admitted in 2024 that he didn’t know whether tariffs would raise prices:
Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but said he didn’t believe economists’ predictions that added costs on those imported goods for American companies would lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers. He stopped short of a pledge that U.S. households won’t be paying more as they shop.
“I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow,” Trump said, seeming to open the door to accepting the reality of how import levies typically work as goods reach the retail market.
That’s a different approach from Trump’s typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation.
In the interview, Trump defended tariffs generally, saying they are “going to make us rich.”
See Bill Barrow and Will Weissert, Trump says he can’t guarantee tariffs won’t raise US prices and won’t rule out revenge prosecutions, Associated Press, December 8, 2024.
Higher prices and revenge prosecutions have both come to pass. (When Trump spoke about making ‘us’ rich, he was speaking about benefiting a small number of family members and cronies.)
Eleven months later, his own admitted ignorance about grocery prices has met the reality that tariffs bring price increases. And so, and so — Trump reverses course and cuts tariffs on US food imports:
Donald Trump moved to lower tariffs on food imports, including beef, tomatoes, coffee and bananas, in an executive order on Friday as the White House fights off growing concerns about rising costs.
The new exemptions take effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday and mark a sharp reversal for Trump, who has long insisted that his import duties are not fueling inflation. They come after a string of victories for Democrats in state and local elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, where affordability was a key topic.
See Dominic Rushe, Trump reverses course and cuts tariffs on US food imports, The Guardian, November 14, 2025.
Chimp escape prompts zoo lockdown: