Michael Roberts
First, Donald Trump is a seriously dysfunctional individual whose self-aggrandizement, intense hubris, and lack of human empathy is obvious to all reasonable people. His public statements and his zigzags on policy (tariffs, international conflicts, and all sorts of cultural and social issues) demonstrate that. But there is method in this madness. Trump’s strategy aims at restoring the United States’s manufacturing base, reducing the trade deficit in goods, and reasserting US global hegemony, particularly against China.
Trump and his MAGA acolytes are convinced that the United States has been robbed of its economic power and hegemonic status by other major economies stealing their manufacturing base and then imposing all sorts of blockages on the ability of American corporations (particularly manufacturing companies) to rule the roost. For Trump, this is expressed in the overall trade deficit that the United States runs with the rest of the world.
Donald Trump often refers to US president William McKinley when announcing his tariffs. In 1890, McKinley, then a member of the House of Representatives, proposed a range of tariffs to protect American industry that were subsequently adopted by Congress. But the tariff measures did not work out well. They did not avoid the severe depression that began in 1893 and lasted until 1897. In 1896, McKinley became president and presided over a new set of tariffs, the Dingley Tariff Act of 1897. As this was a boom period, McKinley claimed that the tariffs would help to boost the economy. Called the “Napoleon of Protection”, he linked his tariffs policy to the military takeover of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines to extend America’s “sphere of influence,” something Trump echoes today with his comments about Canada, Greenland, or Gaza. Early into this second term as president,…
Auteur: Michael Roberts
