As the world struggled to keep up with the White House’s erratic approach to trade tariffs, Rep. Jim McGovern told his congressional colleagues last week, “How is any company supposed to forecast for their future, build a plant, hire workers, if they have no idea what the hell this president is gonna do in his next tweet?”
The Massachusetts Democrat added, “I need a neck brace to be able to get through all this.”
Alas, that was before the administration added even more uncertainty to its own flailing plan.
As last week got underway, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that many Americans are eager to join “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones.” He went on to insist that this is the kind of work that’s “going to come to America” thanks to the White House’s tariffs.
Five days later, in an apparent Friday night news dump, the administration exempted smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components from Donald Trump’s new tariffs, contradicting the line Lutnick peddled earlier in the week.
Two days after the exemption came to public attention, Lutnick said the reversal would soon be reversed, and as Reuters reported, the president pushed the same line.
President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would be announcing the tariff rate on imported semiconductors over the next week, adding that there would be flexibility with some companies in the sector. The president’s pledge means that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China likely will be short-lived as Trump looks to reset trade in the semiconductor sector.
Let’s not forget that a week ago at this time, Trump and his team told the world that he’d implement his dangerous trade tariffs; there would be no pauses, delays or extensions; and he wasn’t considering exceptions.
Since making those declarations, the Republican has announced a 90-day pause on part — but not all — of his tariffs plan, followed by a related announcement about a major exemption, which was followed by another announcement that the exemption would disappear in the “near future.”
“You know, you have to show a certain flexibility,” Trump told reporters on Sunday night. “Nobody should be so rigid. We have to have a certain flexibility.”
Putting aside the obvious fact that this rhetoric is at odds with the “HANG TOUGH” message the president pushed a week earlier, I’d love to hear more from the president about how he defines the word “flexibility.” Because if it means “careen wildly without any coherent plan or direction,” then it’s the perfect choice.
Ideally, right about now, the United States would be engaged in a great public debate about the White House’s policy on the merits, but that’s effectively impossible — because no one can say with certainty what the White House’s policy is, how it might change, when it might change, who might change it, how long the change might last, or even why in the world the president is doing this.
Consider a revised timeline of recent events:
Feb. 1: Trump announces the imposition of new tariffs on the United States’ three largest trading partners — Canada, Mexico and China — and says there is nothing anyone can do to delay the policy.
Feb. 3: The American president backs off, claiming he’s made some last-minute deals that effectively did not exist.
March 4: Trump again announces that he’s imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
March 5: He exempts automakers from his policy. March 6: Trump issues another round of broad exemptions for a wide range of goods. April 2: In a speech filled with bizarre lies, the president announces it’s “Liberation Day” and unveils sweeping international tariffs based on a formula that was quickly exposed as gibberish. April 3 to April 8: The president, White House officials, congressional Republicans and their allies insist there is simply no way that Trump would back down under pressure as his tariff policy rocks global markets and raises the specter of a recession. April 9: Trump backs down under pressure, pausing much — but not all — of his failing policy. April 10: Markets fall sharply as investors come to realize that Trump’s “pause” actually created a net increase in U.S. tariff rates. April 11: The administration announced a tariff exemption for smartphones, computers, and other tech devices and components. April 13: Trump said he’d end the exemption, though he didn’t say when, how or to what extent. “I know what the hell I’m doing,” the president told congressional Republicans last week. Given recent events, I’d be hard-pressed to imagine why anyone would believe such a boast. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
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."
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