Seven of the best reads (and reels) on Trumpworld tariffs policy this month
Who is panicking about Trumpworld tariffs? When your enemy is making mistakes, be sure not to tell them about it… China looks on as America upends the global economic system
1. Martin Wolf on China
China thinks Trump is doing his own Mao Zedong-style Cultural Revolution with his attacks on the elites and bureaucracies, and savaging the basis of American cultural, economic and scientific power: America will be weaker.
2. China is not panicking
Prof. Liu Baocheng Dean, Center for International Business Ethics University of International Business and Economics, says China is not panicking: “Trump is setting up a prisoner-style game that means he can expect symmetrical responses from those who will not kiss the ring and satisfy his ego.”
3. The Economist explains why Trump tariffs are a big mistake
4. Did ChatGPT decide American tariffs?
If a DOGE intern is using large-language models to determine American economic policy while the Trump administration hunts down the elites that are opposed to its far-right and techno-bro policies, the global financial system is in trouble…
5. Tariff divisions
There are two clear camps within the White House, as divisions over Trumpworld tariffs emerge. “There’s the pure protectionist crowd and there’s the group that’s been calling themselves the ‘fair trade’ crowd. Up until this point, we’ve seen that protectionist camp — including trade adviser Peter Navarro and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer — win out, but we started to see some wins for the other camp today as the president shifted his rhetoric to talk a bit more about dealmaking.”
6. The ‘official’ rationale for tariffs
In the FT, Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro writes in ‘Donald Trump’s tariffs will fix a broken system’(Paywall) that America’s trade deficit of over $1 trillion (that is, goods that Americans want to buy from non-US countries), has to be reversed. Trump dreams of balance surpluses for America.
Navarro accuses foreign nations of boosting their exports to the US but using “currency manipulation, VAT distortions, dumping, export subsidies, state-owned enterprises, IP theft, discriminatory product standards, quotas, bans, opaque licensing regimes, burdensome customs procedures, data localisation mandates” and, here’s the big rub, European regulations on American Big Tech (the kind which protects EU consumers) to wall off American imports.
Navarro adds some moral virtue as well: “On top of that, many foreign competitors operate from sweatshops and pollution havens that morally and environmentally stain the global landscape” (this from a country that wants to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific Research Arm whose findings lead to stronger regulations to protect against exposure to air pollution, hazardous chemicals and climate change.)
“All America wants is fairness. President Trump is simply charging you what you are charging us. What is fairer than that?” - yeah, we’ll see about that.
7. Trump tells EU: buy American oil
The European Union will have to commit to buying $350 billion of American energy to get a reprieve from Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, after Trump dismissed Brussels’ offer of “zero-for-zero” tariffs on cars and industrial goods. Asked by a reporter whether the offer was enough for him to back down, Trump said: “No, it’s not.”
Trump says EU must buy $350B of US energy to get tariff relief