When President Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs back in early April, it was, as Obi-Wan Kenobi might say, “as if millions of economists and 401(k) plans suddenly cried out in terror.” The global market started to crash, and one could only imagine the ridiculous defenses we were about to hear from Trump’s surrogates and media toadies. Indeed, it a spectacle.
Most stuck with the White House’s preferred talking points on the matter (which have since changed several times) — America First rhetoric, like “other countries are ripping us off” and “free trade is meaningless unless there is also fair trade.” Such slogans were based, of course, on the demonstrably false premise that trade deficits, from an economic perspective, are inherently bad — so bad, according to the administration, that they constituted a “national emergency.” The rhetoric made even less sense when one considered that the United States had trade surpluses with a number of the counties Trump slapped “Liberation Day” tariffs on.
But there was at least one MAGA-pundit who was more creative in his defense of the economically illiterate policy: Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld.
Gutfeld argued that the move was a masterful bargaining tactic, and that by making unreasonable demands of other countries, Trump would bring them to the negotiating table, and — “based on fairness” — get concessions from them… without actually having to give up anything in return.
“Trump does this all the time,” Gutfeld marveled. “He creates an asset out of nothing, and then trades it. It’s amazing!”
Well, as we’ve seen over the past few months, things haven’t turned out all that “amazing.” It’s not a mystery why. When you start a trade war (especially a long, largely indiscriminate one), your country, to varying degrees, actually “gives up” a lot of things. You know, stuff like big tax dollars, affordable goods and services, business market-share, trade relationships, strategic partnerships, profit margins, wages, job security, employment opportunities, and economic growth.
And though the administration has proudly announced a number of “historic” deals with select countries, leveraged by Trump’s tariffs, those “deals” have amounted to little more than a deescalation from Trump’s earlier tariff threats — not an improvement over the deals we had prior to the trade war. In fact, we’re in worse shape almost across the board.
In other words, the economists had it right. Trump’s intermittent suspensions of some of his most crippling tariffs (and the strategic calculation made early on by major U.S. companies to stock up on inventory) may have reduced (or delayed) some of the damage, but the disastrous effects of his policy have been coming into clearer and clearer focus. We’re seeing this not only in the economic numbers, but also in the lives and sentiments of regular Americans. The Real Clear Politics average of polls currently has Trump at 15 points underwater on the economy and 25 points underwater on inflation. These were the top issues, according to the same polls, that Trump was elected on last year. Now, the consumer sentiment index in our country is near record-lows.
Things have gotten so bad that the administration has finally admitted (perhaps for the first time) that tariffs do indeed make products more expensive for Americans. Trump recently signed an executive order lifting his tariffs on coffee, bananas, beef, and other major items in a self-described effort to bring down prices.
Comically, the dramatic shift in policy is being depicted in MAGA circles (including the White House) as a wise and benevolent move for the American people… naturally without any acknowledgement that it was Trump’s tariffs that drove up the prices in the first place.
It reminds me of a great joke by the late comedian, Shecky Greene. Greene, in real life, was very much disliked by singer Frank Sinatra. Yet Greene, on stage, would credit Sinatra for “saving his life,” recalling a time when he (Greene) was being beat-up in a back alley by five men. Sinatra came to his rescue by approaching the men and saying, “Okay, he’s had enough.”
I suppose one could argue that Gutfeld was also making a joke with his tariff defense a few months ago (he’s a funny guy, after all). However, there’s been a developing angle on the trade front that’s beginning to make me think he may have actually been onto something.
While a number of countries have responded to President Trump’s tariffs with retaliatory tariffs, and/or turning to other countries to develop trade relationships, Switzerland recently took a more unique approach. Earlier this month, they sent a half-dozen Swiss business-tycoons to the White House, bearing gifts and lots of personal flattery for the president himself. The gifts included a one-kilogram gold bar, personalized to the president and worth more than $130,000. Trump was also given a special Rolex desktop clock. A week and a half later, the White House announced it was dropping its tariff rate on goods from Switzerland from 39% to 15%, with relatively minor, thus far non-binding concessions from the Swiss (apparently marking the end of some “national emergency”).
As Gutfeld described, Trump created an asset out of nothing, and then traded it. But who, exactly, benefited from the exercise? And more importantly, who ended up in a better position than the one they were in before the trade war?
The only clear answer to that question is Trump. He got some pretty cool (and expensive) goodies that he can one day show off in his presidential library, along with that 24-karat gold gift given to him by Apple CEO Tim Cook (as part of a deal exempting Apple from U.S. tariffs), and that $400 million 747 jet from Qatar. Between that stuff, and Trump’s net worth nearly doubling in the last year alone, his post-presidency should be a real kick!
But what about the rest of America? Is a recession in our future? As of last month, according to Moody’s Analytics, almost half of our states were already in one. Key administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have certainly signaled their concerns. Trump himself is already talking about taking the tax revenue he’s collected from Americans through tariffs, and redistributing it to other Americans in stimulus payments. (For those with good memories, this was known during the Obama years as “spreading the wealth around”).
Personally, I think it’s well past time to knock off all the economic gimmicks and socialist ideas, and get back to conservative, traditionally Republican policies that promote free trade and free markets. They’re our best bet against an economic recession, and a proven method for bringing down prices. It shouldn’t take a Supreme Court decision to make it happen, either. Congress could rescind Trump’s tariff power tomorrow if they had the backbone to truly put America first.
We don’t need “amazing!” We just need some common sense.
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I will never get Trump's fascination with tariffs. Does this "brilliant" businessman not have any friends who are economists? Is there no one in his administration with any backbone that says these tariffs are a bad idea and bad for the economy? I've said enough about Greg Gutfeld. He is as Juan Williams once accused him of, a puppet of Donald Trump. That comment angered Greg like I've never seen. Because he knew it was true. Juan of course was taken off The Five not long after these comments.
Could it be that Trumps obsession with tariffs stems from his core need to control and manipulate people and situations for ego satisfaction and personal gain rather than any genuine political policy ideals? Nah, he would never do that!