As Donald Trump’s second term got underway, the president declared that there was a poorly defined economic “emergency” that allowed him to unilaterally impose trade tariffs based on little more than his perceptions and whims. With this in mind, on April 2, in a speech filled with bizarre lies, the Republican announced that it was “Liberation Day” in the United States, and as part of his declaration, he unveiled sweeping international tariffs based on a formula that was quickly exposed as gibberish.
A week later, after insisting that there was simply no way that Trump would back down under pressure as his tariff policy rocked global markets and raised the specter of a recession, Trump backed down under pressure, pausing much of his failing policy.
The halt was, however, temporary. In fact, the three-month pause was intended to open the door to new trade agreements — and according to the White House, Americans could look forward to “90 deals in 90 days.”
Roughly 89 days later, Trump has failed entirely to meet his own goals, and as The New York Times reported, he’s moving forward with his original plan — or at least some variation of it.
President Trump revived his trade war threat with more than a dozen countries on Monday, telling them that they would face steep tariffs on their exports as of Aug. 1 unless they agreed to trade deals by then. The president targeted two of America’s closest foreign allies, Japan and South Korea, as well as Malaysia, Indonesia and South Africa. Mr. Trump also officially extended the timeline for dozens of other countries to agree to deals with the United States or face tariffs, signing an executive order on Monday afternoon delaying the stiff levies that were supposed to snap back on July 9.
By any fair measure, this entire policy is a shambolic mess.
Late last week, for example, Trump said his “inclination” was to simply impose new tariffs instead of negotiating new trade deals because “it’s just much easier.” That wasn’t intended to be funny, but it was amusing to hear the president effectively admit that failing is easier than succeeding on one of his signature issues.
That set the stage for the rollout of several new tariff rates — similar, but not identical, to the “Liberation Day” rates, for reasons that haven’t yet been explained — which the president soon after admitted are “not 100% firm.”
Complicating matters further, after insisting that tariff rates would “boomerang” and snap back into place on July 9, the administration also announced a new and arbitrary Aug. 1 deadline.
Asked Monday why Trump restarted his trade war by sending letters to South Korea and Japan, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “It’s the president’s prerogative and those are the countries he chose.”
And therein lies the point. We could talk at length about the economic uncertainty that Trump is creating, the bizarre and amateurish process that has defined the administration’s entire approach to tariffs, the impact the chaos is creating, the damage this is doing, and even the possibility that the entire agenda could change — and then change again — in the coming hours, days, weeks or months. But Leavitt’s point is an important one: The entire U.S. trade policy is based on the “prerogatives” of a former television personality who occasionally tries to pretend he understands how tariffs work. Congress is supposed to have authority over international commerce, but instead, Republican lawmakers have decided to take a back seat, allowing Trump to simply bark incoherent orders. The system wasn’t designed to work this way; it can’t work this way; and it doesn’t work this way.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
Latest Post
Recommended
