President Trump’s blusterous ignorance is surpassed only by his dangerous delusions. He might even think a lie becomes the truth if he keeps repeating it boldly and loudly enough.
Only this explains his dogged claim that the United States is “collecting tens of billions of dollars from China in tariffs.” It is not – as anyone familiar with the basic tenets of international trade knows.
Yet Trump has National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow making a fool of himself trying to make sense of his claim. This played out in train-wreck fashion on Fox News Sunday (of all channels) when dogged questions about tariffs had Kudlow talking out of both sides of his mouth:
‘I understand that, but the president says that China — it pays the tariffs. They may suffer consequences, but it’s U.S. businesses and U.S. consumers who pay, correct?’ [host Chris] Wallace asked.
Kudlow again conceded the point, but also tried to argue that China pays a price, too, because of lost exports.
(The Washington Post, May 13, 2019)
That Kudlow is an erstwhile anti-tariff crusader made watching this infinitely more cringeworthy.
For the record,
Goldman Sachs [is leading the chorus of economic advisers warning that] the cost of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last year against Chinese goods has fallen ‘entirely’ on American businesses and households, with a greater impact on consumer prices than previously expected. …
Trump has repeatedly — and inaccurately — claimed that China will pay for tariffs imposed by the U.S.
(CNBC, May 12, 2019)
So, just as he’s billing American taxpayers for the wall he insists Mexico is paying for, he’s taxing American consumers for the tariffs he insists China is paying for. Topsy-turvy, I know. But what is consistent is that you can’t believe a word this world-class shyster masquerading as president of the United States says about anything.
Meanwhile, with all due respect to Goldman Sachs, even I have warned that Trump’s tariffs are as reckless as they are hapless. I did so most recently in “China Encroaching…US Retreating…It’s All a Trumpian Mess!” April 1, 2019.
Yet nothing indicates how dangerous Trump’s bluster can be quite like late-breaking news about China calling for a ‘people’s war’ to combat his tariffs. State media are replete with headlines denouncing his greed and arrogance for threatening to impose another $300 billion worth on Chinese goods.
Perhaps most ominous, though, is President Xi Jinping’s Confucian declaration of defiance:
The Chinese economy is a sea, not a small pond. A rainstorm can destroy a small pond, but it cannot harm the sea. After numerous storms, the sea is still there.
(The Sun, May 14, 2019)
In other words, Confucian Xi is daring Mafia Don to … let it rain!
Incidentally, I’m beginning to wonder if my commentaries dignify Trump’s buffoonery too much. After all, cartoons so often seem the best way to comment on his cartoonish presidency. And, sure enough, with respect to his tariffs, there’s a cartoon for that:
This is a Looney-Tunes way of saying Trump, like Wile E. Coyote, is just shooting himself in the foot … again.
That said,
- The only reason the United States is waging this trade war with China is that Trump could not stand his predecessor, Barack Obama, getting credit for negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That partnership, composed of some of the world’s leading economies, was the world’s best hope for combating China’s unfair trade practices. Not to mention that it included an automatic update to NAFTA (which Trump rebranded his USMCA without negotiating any substantive changes) and provided a democratic alternative to China’s mercenary Belt and Road Initiative. Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from that partnership.
- The only reason the United States is risking military confrontation with Iran is that Trump could not stand Obama getting credit for negotiating the Iran Nuclear deal. That deal, which included the world’s leading nuclear powers, rolled back Iran’s nuclear program. Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from that deal.
- The only reason the United States is returning Cold War tensions to the Americas is that Trump could not stand Obama getting credit for normalizing ties with Cuba. That normalization, which lowered 50-plus years of futile trade and political barriers, gave US companies the opportunity to help develop Cuba the way they helped develop Vietnam. Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from those normalized ties.
The sad truth is that only visceral hatred (and jealousy) of Obama explains the irrational nature of far too many of Trump’s policies, foreign and domestic (Exhibit A is his Sisyphean efforts to repeal Obamacare). I expounded on this lay analysis in “Trump’s Art of Diplomacy Has Europe Siding with Iran against US,” February 16, 2019, and “Trump’s First 100 Days,” May 1, 2017. The latter includes the following:
Trump’s executive orders seem drafted to either whitewash or undermine Obama’s accomplishments. You could be forgiven for thinking that Trump has predicated his presidency on vindicating his birther conspiracy; you know, the one he peddled about Obama being an illegitimate interloper (a.k.a. an uppity African) who does not belong among the ranks of American presidents.
Related commentaries:
Trump’s wall…
China encroaching…
Art of diplomacy…