When you break the economy, you own it.
Donald Trump’s trade war is fast turning into a fiasco. When the president started the war, Team Trump advertised it as certain to be fast, easy, and cheap. Trump would impose tariffs. The world would yield to his will.
The advertising rapidly proved false. The U.S. economy is slowing because of the Trump tariffs; China’s is thriving in spite of them. Team Trump falsely promotes vague five-page outlines with alienated former allies as big deals; China is successfully wooing some of its former rivals, such as Vietnam. America’s standing in the world is measurably sinking; China’s is measurably rising. Courts are ruling that Trump’s tariffs are illegal; public opinion mistrusts the tariffs, regarding them as expensive and unproductive. The promise of huge flows of painless money from tariff revenues is evanescing as the fantasy it always was.
Oh, and the country’s largest chain of Halloween retailers canceled its traditional summer grand opening because of Trump-caused supply disruptions. What comes next, as things go wrong?
Trump’s first instinct is to blame the targets of his economic aggression for not cooperating with his wishes. On May 30, Trump accused China of violating an imaginary agreement with him. On June 4, he complained that Xi Jinping was “extremely hard to make a deal with.” But Trump seldom chooses to quarrel with foreign dictators, saying in the same breath, “I like President Xi of China, always have, and always will.” Today, in all-caps emphasis, Trump announced that a deal had been done, declaring that his “RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT” with the Chinese president-for-life.
The lack of details in the announcement strongly suggests that Trump yielded more and gained less than his publicity apparatus wants Americans to believe. That’s because, in reality, Trump’s global trade war has always been subordinate to his domestic culture war.
Trump much prefers to vent his rage against enemies within. Get ready for him to blame the failure of his trade war on fellow Americans who did not support him enough. The Trump tariffs will be ballyhooed as an act of patriotism, a necessary sacrifice to be laid on the altar of the nation. One of Trump’s television talkers reminded viewers that Americans melted down their pots and pans to win the Second World War. If the president needs to ration dolls and colored pencils, how dare any true American raise a contrary voice?
The coming call for national solidarity with Trump’s Great Patriotic War against imported Halloween costumes deserves all the scoffing it will get and more.
