Okay, I stand corrected. But you really don’t buy into all that, do you? Just last month, Trump was oh-so-graciously offering a "reprieve" to Canada and Mexico for a month (see below). How the hell can you trust a guy like that? This is far from over. He could be dancing to a completely different tune by next month, or hell, by next Tuesday.
As far as I am concerned, Trump is a rational leader. He is unpredictable, yes, but rational. The proof is in my previous post. Countries are lining up to negotiate trade deals with the US. Everything will work out just fine.
Trump backed off on USMCA when he realized that he called his own trade deal unfair. Until Wednesday afternoon, Liberation day included tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Remember the talk of dairy exports to Canada being taxed at 300%?
From the Atlantic: "On one side, you have the longtime Trump aide Peter Navarro, who has said that Trump’s tariffs will raise $6 trillion over the next decade, making it the largest tax increase in American history. On another, you have pro-Trump tech folks, such as Palmer Luckey, who have instead claimed that the goal is the opposite: a world of fully free trade, as countries remove their existing trade barriers in the face of the new penalties. On yet another track, there is Stephen Miran, the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, who has suggested that the tariff salvo is part of a master plan to rebalance America’s relationship with the global economy by reducing the value of the dollar and reviving manufacturing employment in the United States," writes Derek Thompson." TLDR: Trumps inner circle is justifying the tariff strategy in three opposite ways.
You already had negotiated trade deals. Trump chose to ignore them contrary to international law. He has no credibility in any trade deal now. Remember, the trade war was 100% caused by one man, Trump. Whatever came out of this policy rests 100% on him. Musk played along with his new buddy. So now Tesla has one of the worst brand reputations on the planet. The hapless Republicans played along as well there is no escape from the stink for some of them. This is going to go down in history as one of the most foolish economic decisions in history. Not coincidentally something similar happened in the Great Depression.
He already broke the terms of the deal he himself participated in term one. Just like in his other businesses he apparently stiffed contractors and declared numerous bankruptcies when things got messy. This is not the guy you trust for rational business policy and his appointees are mostly yes men they'll go along with this no matter how bad it gets.
Ah yes, totally rational. How else can you describe him? I’d go full-on snarky with a statement like that, but since I owe you one for my previous oversight, I’ll hold back—just this once. But don’t think for a second I didn’t catch that little piece of logic you’ve got going on there. Anyway, it’s hard to call someone "rational" when their unpredictability is part of their trademark. Sure, countries are lining up for trade deals, but that’s more about necessity than rational leadership. Let’s not confuse chaos with strategy. Let's take this up a notch just for the hell of it. Rationality typically implies a logical, predictable pattern of decision-making. Trump, however, has none of this. He's more often labeled as unpredictable, especially with his drastic policy changes and spontaneous public statements, which don’t exactly scream “rational leadership.” As for the claim about trade deals, countries are lining up alright, but often because they have to, not because they want to. A lot of these deals are the result of Trump's fear tactics, not the result of a rational, steady hand guiding them. So, no, it makes no friggin' sense to frame Trump as a rational leader when his approach is, at best, chaotic and, at worst, borderline schizo. But sure, let’s keep pretending there’s rationality in his madness.
Many countries like Canada and the EU aren't lining up anymore. They've moved on to alternate trade deals and hitting the US where it hurts. Carney has said he'll get around to Trump when he wants to let's make Trump sweat this out some. In other words, sorry millions of Americans but the auto layoffs are a certainty now more to come on other areas. Our guys finally figured it out let Americans feel some pain it's the only route to essentially overthrowing Trump and gang on financial policy. The US Fed is the same let's see it all play out and how far down the crazy road will Trump take this.
He implemented and then delayed snd then for no explainable reason didn’t include them. This is dumb. No worse way to lose credibility. frankly it’s possible chatgpt forgot to add those countries to the list.