As markets panic and the public braces for economic apocalypse in the face of the new US tariff regime, both Donald Trump’s allies and detractors have the same message: there is a grand plan here.
As Trump rolled out his first, massive wave of “reciprocal” tariffs on the entire world — tariffs that were often entirely out of proportion with the duties many countries slap on US goods, and which hit even friendly states that have free trade deals with the United States — critics insisted, to vehement denials from Trump officials, that this was all a negotiating tactic that would soon see a U-turn. Then, when Trump did abruptly retreat, announcing a ninety-day pause and reveling in world leaders begging him to negotiate, it was time for Trump officials and allies to claim it had all been part of a master plan of dealmaking.
“You have been watching the greatest economic master strategy from an American President in history,” said Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
But it might be time for both Trump’s fans and his critics to face up to a more worrying idea: that whether you like the tariffs or not, there is little coherence to the White House’s approach here, which is often at odds with its wider foreign and domestic policy. And this lack of a concerted plan could lead to the whole program’s self-destruction, if not cause bigger problems for the United States.
For instance, is the goal of the tariffs to isolate China on the world stage while also decoupling the US economy from it? If so, the sudden, 125 percent tariff Trump announced on the country’s goods doesn’t look like an effective way to go about it. China is not only the third-largest US trading partner but is intimately tied into the supply chains of many vital goods — the number of products the United States relies on Chinese…
Auteur: Branko Marcetic
