On Wednesday, General Motors adjusted its anticipated earnings for 2018.

And not in a good way.

The reason? President Trump’s tariffs on aluminum and steel (covered here and here).

Initially, the car maker expected a $500 million impact.

That seems like a lot; but I generally size up a dollar amount based on how many chocolate peanut butter malts it can buy at The Counter. If you’ve never had one…they’re delicious.

But it’s worse than the car people thought — they’re gonna really have to cut back on their consumption of dairy and nutty chocolate: according to Reuters, the new number is $1 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Chuck Stevens told journalists most of the added expense was sustained in the USA.

But there’s a bit of hope: Republicans led a tax bill last year which, despite Nancy Pelosi’s claim of Armageddon (seen in its wholly invalidating glory here), actually — brace yourself — was good.

Just process it — Nancy Pelosi was wrong.

I’ll wait.

Okay:

Therefore, thanks also in part to record-low unemployment, car-selling business should boom in a way that helps counter (Mmm–milkshakes!) the tarrific losses.

But, in the words of Stevens, the future is unknown (isn’t that always the case?):

“What happens beyond 2018, there’s a lot of uncertainty in this space at this point in time.”

In response to the tariffs, which were a response to tariffs and were responded to with tariffs (and around we go), U.S. producers of steel raised their prices.

**Economics! Someone tell Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her Millennial followers about this (see here)!

Meanwhile, Trump insists that tariffs are part of the art of the deal (see the artist at work here and here).

But if you really want a taste of an artfully great deal, visit LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Mexico City, Idaho, Arizona, Florida, Virginia, or New York. And cool off from the heat (it was 98 in Beverly Hills yesterday) with a whipped cream-topped, cherry-on-top glass of sweet, frothy goodness. www.thecounter.com.

Enjoy.

What are your thoughts on Trump’s tariffs? And what’s your favorite milkshake? Sound off in the Comments below.

In case you missed the relevant RedState links in this article, please find them here, here, here, here, here, and here.

For something (almost) totally different, please check out my coverage of Christians selling their souls, John Podesta on Comey’s sabotage of Hillary’s campaign, and Babylon Bee’s Pelosi connection.

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