Although the “liberation day” measures of April 2024 were hardly a surprise, they still prompted a global stock market crash and volatility on the US bond market. They also exposed a rift among Donald Trump’s entourage. The tech tycoon Elon Musk, a short-lived addition to Trumpism’s libertarian wing, derided trade czar Peter Navarro as being “dumber than a sack of bricks.” MAGA ideologue Steve Bannon punished Musk’s deviation from the party line by jumping to Navarro’s defense and calling for the nationalization of SpaceX.
Navarro is, in many ways, an unlikely Trumpist: a former Democratic candidate and longtime proponent of free trade. Yet his 2024 book The MAGA Deal: The Unofficial Deplorables’ Guide to Donald Trump’s 2024 Policy Platform locates the root cause of inflation in America’s overextended supply chains — affecting everything from pharmaceuticals to Christmas decorations. Above all, he worries about the defense industrial base. Offshoring, he warns, undermines not only blue-collar jobs, but also the nation’s ability to “enter another world war.” Any dependence on China, whose autarky he admires, further threatens national security.
Musk’s retreat was more than a victory for MAGA loyalists. It also paved the way for Trump’s tariff regime to become a permanent feature of the global economy. It is only the latest chapter in a broader renaissance of protectionism that began in 2016, persisted through 2021, and has since shaped policies across major economies and trade blocs. But in an era of increasing state involvement in the defense industry, rearmament, imperial rearrangement, and violent land appropriation — much of it sanctioned by the Trump administration — there is clearly something more…
Auteur: Ian Klinke
