And now, it begins
This past week, the second round of stiff Trump tariffs on Chinese goods were met- as such things inevitably are- by increased Chinese tariffs of a corresponding magnitude.
Mr. Trump has also leveled tariffs on some of our closest allies, including Canada and many of our friends in Europe. Many of them have responded in kind.
Tariffs don't help. Nobody wins trade wars. Only today, Harley-Davidson announced that it's moving production on motorcycles to be sold in Europe out of the United States in order to avoid the catastrophic losses the retaliatory tariffs are causing. And that's what history teaches us generally happens when trade wars begin. Protectionism doesn't save jobs. It costs them.
But sadly for American farmers and workers, Donald Trump doesn't know any more about history than he does about the rest of the things his job requires him to deal with.
The Trump administration is now talking about a counterstrike to the latest European tariffs, this time hitting automobiles and other industries. God help Detroit. God help the industrial states- many of which also voted for Trump- as well. No, the man is not responsible for the falling unemployment rate and the growing economy; these are merely the continuation of trends which began under his predecessor. But it seems very likely that if he continues on the course he's set, he's going to ruin both.
The latest round of Chinese tariffs reflects a strategy of which we will undoubtedly be seeing more in the future from China and from Europe and from Canada alike. They intentionally target industries that are important to the states which form Mr. Trump's electoral base.
What!? Foreign governments interfering in our elections? Unheard of! But count on it: this will be presented to the American electorate, not as a politically savvy countermeasure to the tariffs Mr. Trump imposed, but as an act of foreign treachery or dirty pool or something of that nature. The economic chaos which results will be presented by the Administration and accepted by a depressing percentage of the American people, not as the logical outcome of the trade wars Mr. Trump started, but as something for which the foreign governments which will have outplayed Mr. Trump in defense of their own economies and people are to blame.
Of course, it will be someone else's fault. Nothing is ever Donald Trump's fault!
Not even the disastrous effects on the economy which so many of us foresaw from Trump's naive and inept trade strategy back when he was a candidate, which led so many to vote for him- and which now seem likely to cost them their livelihoods.
Comments