Tariffs Catch-All

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Trump’s trade war on reality​

Trump’s tariff crusade ignores U.S. economic strength — and risks squandering it on fantasy and folly.


“… It is U.S. economic heft that allows him to try to force the rest of the world to bend to his will. But Trump is using American power in such a capricious, destructive and dumb way that it will almost certainly result in a lose-lose outcome for everyone.

The real economic story of the past three decades is that the United States has surged ahead of all its major competitors.

In 2008, the U.S. economywas about the same size as the euro zone’s; now, it is nearly twice the size. In 1990, average U.S. wages were about 20 percent greater than the overall average in the advanced industrial world; they are now about 40 percent higher.

In 1995, a Japanese person was 50 percent richer than an American in terms of GDP per capita; today, an American is about 150 percent richer than a Japanese person. In fact, the poorest American state, Mississippi, has a higher per capita GDPthan Britain, France or Japan.

… Trump’s nostalgic worldview is rooted even further back than the 1960s. He looks fondly on the late 19th century, when, as he described this week, the United States had only tariffs and no income tax, and America was stronger economically than it has ever been compared with the rest of the world.

This history is nonsense. In 1900, the United States accounted for about 16 percent of the global economy by one measure; it is now about 26 percent of it. Americans’ standards of living and health are much higher today.

But in acting out on his nostalgic fantasy, Trump might well end up dragging America back to what it was then: a poorer country, dominated by oligarchs and corruption, content to swagger around its backyard and bully its neighbors but marginal to the great currents of global economics and politics.”
 


Lutnick: it’s automated factories.. The key is who is going to build and operate the factories
Brennan: You said robots



HASSETT: Heh ha. The bottom line is the president has been talking about tariffs for 40 years. The president is allowed to have an opinion
S: So that is his strategy

[My note — Trump retweeted that a second time, so I guess it wasn’t an accidental repost as some supporters assumed and he really means it]
 
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