Trump's Tariff "Management" is a Joke


What does the inside of Trump's mind look like? Anyone can see it by following what little we know about his tariff "deals." 

A consistent position of the Republican Party for many decades has been that the market is the best mechanism for deciding prices of things, who has a job and what people and businesses spend their money on. The worst thing, the Party has said, is for government to make these decisions. With tariffs, however, Republicans has decided market forces should be replaced by government. And, not just government in general. Trump has become what we used to refer to as the "Federal Government."

The New York Times published a great article attempting to answer the question, "Who still pays tariff, who does not and why?" The answer is the large corporations with lobbyists who can get into the While House, sometimes talking to the President himself, can get tariffs on goods they buy from other countries reduced or eliminated. Small firms experience harm from these tariffs and are helpless.    

The article has several examples of this. I kept reading, looking for Apple Iphones which I own, because I know little about other stuff. And, I'll have to replace mine eventually and am wondering what has happened to the price since Trump said he would impose crippling tariffs on China where, as readers know, iphones have been made. 

The price of iphones has not been affected much. For some reason, Trump has decided on lower tariffs for India, so they are now being made there. I don't understand how the U.S. is better off with India making cell phones instead of China.  

We've all seen him use tariffs to punish countries he is mad for other reasons that have nothing to do with selling goods and services. Other Presidents have used boycotts as diplomatic tools but Trump seems unable to master this art. 


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