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How simple life is in the black and white world of Donald Trump, who has blissfully launched a trade war with the rest of the world without a care about its impact. He expects China, Canada, Mexico and the EU to simply roll over.
The tweeter-in-chief tapped this gem out today:
"Tariffs are the greatest! Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that - and everybody’s talking! Remember, we are the “piggy bank” that’s being robbed. All will be Great!
That tweet came ahead of news that Team Trump is gearing up a $12B emergency relief program for American farmers, who will face big financial losses due to the president's unilateral decision to launch a trade war.
The president is apparently clueless that his trade war will translate into higher prices for American consumers and loss of jobs.
Or as George Mason University economics professor Donald Bourdreaux puts it: Trump's trade war is economic suicide.
In an opinion piece posted today on foxnews.com, Boudreaux wrote that tariffs aren't a one-way street, as trading partners will hit back with their own taxes on US exports.
The US economy depends on trade. Boudreaux notes that exports support 10M US jobs, while imports support another 16M and "every one of us has a life that's full of items manufactured abroad." China has announced retaliatory tariffs on more than 100 products and has threatened to stop purchasing American oil and natural gas. The EU, Canada and Mexico have unveiled their own tariffs on US goods.
Trump remains unruffled. He has rejected pleas from Farm Belt Republican Senators to call off the tariff plan. They fear a Depression-era crisis will soon sweep the heartland.
Nebraska's Ben Sasse quickly condemned Trump's $12B farmer bailout plan.
“This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches,” he said. “This administration’s tariffs and bailouts aren’t going to make America great again, they’re just going to make it 1929 again.”
Trump's advisors better tell him what happened in 1929 and throughout the 1930s.
The ridiculously high prices Americans are paying at the supermarket might influence how—or if—they vote in November.
At a moment in history when there are so many conflicts among peoples here and abroad, let us put our differences aside and celebrate this wonderful season in a spirit of togetherness.
The news announcing the death of Henry Kissinger, the last of the prevaricating politicians and so-called statesmen who stole my future and that of thousands of other young Americans, got me thinking about Walter Cronkite.
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