Toilet Paper Tax: Why Women Are Hit by Tariffs | The Great Elephant Airlift

New U.S. tariffs may target China, but the blows will be felt by American women and mothers buying beauty products and toilet paper.

The latest round of tariffs to be proposed in the U.S.-China trade war — $200 billion worth — is a massive escalation in the retaliatory levies the countries have been throwing at each other this year. But it looks like American women are going to be the biggest losers.

This enormous third wave of tariffs by the Trump administration — new ones go into effect next week — is a significant break from decades of increased coordination between China and the U.S.

The third round is different not only because of its size — five times more punitive, financially speaking — but also because it directly targets imports of consumer goods. Experts say the tariffs will hit shoppers in the pocketbook as manufacturers pass the burden on to consumers through higher costs on items such as clothing, household appliances and even toys. The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates that the plan could cost the average American family $1,700 in the first year alone. And American women will be hit hardest.

Cabo Snoop is one of the faces of kuduro, but where does he go from here?

Kuduro, Angola’s signature dance style since the late 1990s, moves the masses … and the asses. From the coolest dance floors of Luanda’s lively nightlife to the city’s sprawling slums to the most far-flung villages, the blaring beat takes center stage. Literally translated, kuduro means “hard ass” — and it’s what you’re likely to have if you can keep up with the masterful moves of Cabo Snoop.

The 30-year-old rose from the slums to become an Angolan sensation on the back of an engaging personality, slick dance moves and, of course, catchy tracks. Next on his agenda? Conquering Africa … and beyond.

After being decimated by civil war, airlifting elephants and giraffes helped restore this national parkland.

University of Pretoria wildlife researcher Wouter van Hoven found himself in a tricky situation in 2001 amid the Angola wilderness. A Russian Ilyushin II-76 plane had just landed with precious cargo: two giant crates holding giraffes that had been airlifted from South Africa.

The problem? The flatbed trucks van Hoven had requested for the crates to be directly lowered onto had not yet arrived. When they finally did arrive an hour later, van Hoven then had to figure out how to lift the crates onto them. The workers ignored his request for a forklift, choosing instead to hoist the crates with hooks — even though van Hoven warned them the crates would fall apart. Sure enough, the lids ripped off during the loading. Luckily, no animals were hurt by this. But “you ended up having a giraffe with its head sticking out, and any time a tree passed by, it would take a bite out of the leaves,” says van Hoven, now able to laugh about the ordeal.

Their destination was the Kissama National Park, just 43 miles south of the Angolan capital of Luanda. Once teeming with wildlife, the park’s entire animal population was wiped out by the country’s brutal civil war, which lasted nearly three decades and killed half a million people. In the 1990s, Angolan officials frustrated by the decimation reached out to van Hoven for help in repopulating the park with many of the same types of animals that once roamed there.