So Trump thinks we have poorly negotiated trade deals… And how many bankruptcies has the US had since the 90’s? If only we had Trump negotiating for us all those years… What a feckless DOLT
I’m afraid that for Trump, an increased likelihood of war is a feature, not a bug.
Trump is going to regret this. He has declared economic war on the strongest, closest allies we have for reasons of “national security.” Repeat, national security. Our allies are now our enemies. But countries like Germany and Canada and the UK won’t be treated like small-time grouting contractors who can be stiffed. They will already have calculated that the political benefits of hurting the US economy exceed the downside of absorbing the economic shocks of a trade war. Indeed this is an existential conflict for civilized countries: Trumpism is immeasurably more dangerous than anything they’ve faced in almost 50 years.
Here’s the problem: with Europe forced into a posture of self defense, the US could easily escalate its aggression. It could agree with Russia to put a pincer squeeze on the west. It could pull out of NATO. All kinds of possibilities present themselves once a lunatic has been put at the head of the worlds dominant military power. Hence Macron’s talk of war.
But my strongest sense is that this is massive overreach. Hitler turned around a ruined German economy. Trump will do the opposite.
If only there was a historical example everyone learned about in school that happened within, say, the past 100 years or so, that we could easily point to and help national leaders see that this is a bad idea.
Yes…war…on multiple fronts…we’ll lose thousands of fine young people, the Don and his enablers will pocket billions of dollars…it will be just " great"…
Our warrior president would like a war so he can pin medals on his self ,run down POW’s,Gold Star families and brag about what he would do if only he could be there.
His value to his country and the world is what holds him back from leading the charge but he will take another Purple Heart.
Bankruptcies were a “*negotiating tactic” for the Don. Beside creative criminality, it is his strongest business talent.
“Trump’s move makes good on a his campaign promise to crack down on trading partners that he claims exploit poorly negotiated trade agreements to run up big trade surpluses with the United States.”
no. no it doesn’t. He’s just flailing around. And handing China total world dominance. But I’m sure our good buddies in Saudi Arabia and Dubai will help us out when things get tough.
They wanted Trump? They got him!
He’s trashing the joint, and of course those least likely to survive an economic downturn will suffer the hardest.
"The offered us our Smith and Hoover-
we paid attention and we chose.
Not only did we pay attention-
we paid through the nose!"
–Martin Charnin
Which is why the Texas school textbook board is so active and involved.
don’t worry Z, none of those thousands of young people come from wealthy families, so it’s OK.
I wonder who Treasury is supposed to borrow from if there’s no trade deficit. Are American businessmen expected to spend all their tax cuts on T-bills or what?
i love the smell of trade wars in the morning!
Macron must know that the only person Trump answers to is the deluded version of who he thinks he is.
It’s the “learned about” part that scuttles it for the Trump train. “United State” of Ignorance is more like it.
It wouldn’t be easy, but if Congress were sufficiently hackled, I believe they could pull back Executive Branch tarriff power that they’ve ceded over the past decades.
Won’t happen, of course, because the GOP can’t cross Donald for anything.
My company, that like most companies probably, is run by fairly conserative right wing folks. We actually had Jeb Bush in during his primary run for president. And we use a lot of steel to make our products and sell a lot of stuff to latin america and asia and even some stuff to russia. Will be interesting to see how this affects us what what their comments about Trump will be.
Well I did predict before Trump took office that he would bring the world together.
Well then, it will be the first time in his long, miserable life that he will regret something…