Tariff Trump: Clueless Trump

He Has No Idea How Tariffs Work

In an interview with NBC, Donald Trump stated that he could not “guarantee anything” when asked whether his tariffs would increase prices for Americans.

I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow. But I can say that if you looked at my — just pre-Covid, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. And I had a lot of tariffs on a lot of different countries, but in particular China.

We took in hundreds of billions of dollars and we had no inflation. In fact, when I handed it over, they didn’t have inflation for a year and a half.- Donald Trump

For a while now, I’ve suspected that Donald Trump doesn’t grasp math all that well. Economics, being essentially a more complex form of math, is an even steeper hill for him to climb. When you’ve managed to run casinos into the ground, it’s no surprise that comprehending the intricacies of a $28 trillion economy might be beyond reach. Predictably, he’s likely to double down on his own “understanding,” shaped largely by his experiences during his first term.

The second half of Trump’s statement above contains a kernel of truth. U.S. revenue did increase slightly during that period, accompanied by moderate inflation. He’ll likely point to that as proof: when he raised tariffs, inflation didn’t skyrocket, and GDP growth didn’t turn negative. To him, that’s evidence that tariffs don’t harm the economy—so why not ramp them up even further?

Good luck to anyone who tries to explain otherwise. And even more luck to those attempting to point out that his first-term policies contributed directly to record-high farm bankruptcies, rising auto prices, and price surges for many goods—all while China kept sending products to the U.S. as usual.

It didn’t come directly from China. Instead, it was sent to another country before making its way to American shores.

Who covered the extra shipping costs?

Americans.

This is why the United States has presidential debates: to give candidates a platform to demonstrate their competence in governing. Yet Trump will show up armed with lines like “Haitians are eating pets,” and the media will cover it breathlessly. Similarly, political parties once focused on policies to help voters understand their plans for governing. Not anymore.

Now, the GOP wants you fixated on who uses which bathroom, not on what’s flowing in and out of the economy. And here we are, with a president who has no real grasp of what he’s doing, cherry-picking data points to prop up the narrative that he’s always right.

There’s a faint silver lining, though it may not amount to much. Trump seems to be stepping away from universal tariffs, no longer threatening blanket tariffs on all imports.

They have many purposes, tariffs, if properly used. I don’t say you use them like a madman. I say properly used—Donald Trump said yesterday.

Some one told him this. And he is right on this one.

Targeted tariffs have the potential to benefit the economy—if applied strategically. By strategically targeting products aligned with future global demand, such tariffs could stimulate domestic production in crucial growth industries. The Wall Street swamp Trump brought into Washington.,D.C certainly understand this. Their best move would be to give Trump the tariffs he craves while ensuring they serve a longer-term goal: strengthening American manufacturers in competitive, future-ready sectors.

I’m not holding my breath, though.

Still, the pressure from various directions has nudged Trump away from his initial idea of universal tariffs—a blanket 20% on all imports—to a more targeted approach.

That’s a small win. And we need more small wins.