The Trump tariff policy was not a surprise. Seasoned Trump watchers will know that the President has been beating the drum for tariffs for decades. There is a well-known clip of Donald Trump on the Oprah Winfrey show in the late 80s.
In this widely seen clip, Trump rails against other countries “ripping off” the United States. The Saudis were living “like kings” while the poor US was defending them, Trump wailed.
In his announcement of his candidacy in the Republican Presidential Primary in 2015, he poignantly asked his audience, “when did you last see a Chevrolet in Tokyo?”. “It doesn’t happen”, he said, answering his own question.
The point is that, for whatever reason, President Trump has felt that weak American leaders have allowed the rest of the World to take advantage of the US for way too long.
One absurd consequence of this naïveté was the way in which the Germans paid billions of dollars to Putin for natural gas. At the same time, they expected the Americans to give them billions to defend them against- you have guessed it- Vladimir Putin.
The EU is a giant protectionist racket that Brexit Britain is better off without - Kwasi Kwarteng
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Trump was right to point out this insanity. What is even more absurd is the cry of the pro EU ‘internationalists’, the self-acknowledged ‘grown-ups’ in the room. They denounce Trump for backing protectionism and putting up barriers to global commerce.
Yet what is the EU, if not a giant protectionist racket? What is the Common Agricultural Policy? The Customs Union? These are surely among the most protectionist institutions in the world today.
The EU and its supporters berate the President’s protectionism, while celebrating that of the European Union. They are criticising Trump for doing exactly what the EU does.
Another fact that the die-hard EU fans will never acknowledge is that post Brexit Britain is in a better place than their beloved EU in respect of Trump’s tariffs .
The EU is facing 20% tariffs on their exports into the US. Britain is facing only 10%. That is half the rate the EU faces. But this simple benefit of Brexit will never be admitted by the Brexit haters, even though a child can see this advantage.
I am not a fan of protectionism , but I think I understand what President Trump is doing. His advisers look back to a world at the beginning of the last century.
Donald Trump's tariffs will push up costs for ordinary Americans.
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America was, around 1900 let’s say, independent, proud, and decidedly inward looking. Tariffs were high, income tax was non-existent, only being introduced by the Federal Government in 1913. The Rockefellers, the Carnegies, the Vanderbilts and JPMorgan all made their fortunes in this America.
Trump may well aspire to recreate that America. The slogan “Make America Great Again” is deliberately unclear as to which period gave birth to American “greatness” in the first place.
The tariffs are retrograde and are likely to push up costs for ordinary Americans. I think, overall, they are a bad idea.
Yet Trump would argue, with some plausibility, that he’s only doing what the Chinese and the EU have been doing, to the detriment of the US, for decades.
