Our aliterate president sees no value in books, and doesn't understand how countries -- mostly people in countries -- buy things from other countries, because there are advantages in trade. (His business degree is a sham, bought by his daddy.) He doesn't read his PDB, or consult the testimony of the best experts in the world -- US government employees -- in international trade, economics, and the nuts and bolts of policy. (He runs the government like a near-sighted stage coach driver chased by wild Mexicans.)
He stopped learning around the 8th grade, and found that pig-headed bullying and bluster worked best for him. His version of "Be Best" is to shield out new information, which might damage his long-held beliefs. Such as the one that he's always the smartest one in the room. DC is full of very smart people, people who were better students at better schools and then went on to grad schools where they learned more. And now they offer advice to an ignorant president who doesn't want to hear it.
24
The spirit of Smoot Hawley rides again! Yee-ha!
5
This is going to cost us a fortune, as well as our credibilty and any good will.......around the world.
Good grief.....with Microsoft Word please stop trying to write my ideas for me???? PLEASE!!
4
just another diversion. . .
4
"people from Central America to exercise their legal right to seek admission to the United States?"
What have you been smoking, NYT? You are talking about people who cross the border ILLEGALLY, without any document. How could you not get it?
2
The US needs to look at WHY Honduras, El Salvador residents are fleeing. Could it be that those gangsters deported from LA by previous administration have made life unliveable? Work WITH Mexico and decent people of Central America to stabilise these countries. As long as you have an ignoramus as President, people will rightly flee. Come on, Democrats. Put up a real, regional plan.
10
Trump diplomacy is nothing short of blackmail. A crook, is a crook, is a crook.
8
"The beatings will continue until moral improves."
D.T. Washington 2019
4
TRUMP is a tower of intellect, strategy, gumption, reliability and goodwill. He is well groomed, sometimes polite and straight shooter. He dislikes black, brown and golden skin color on people and forthrightly discriminates against them. He hates poor people and John McCain. Maybe he hates John McCain's daughter as well. The GOP now hate John McCain as well. Trump might be the strangest person ever as he tramples everything into the ground and hates everyone everywhere except dictators that have the liberty to kill others.
9
"Tariffs, Mr. Trump’s Miracle Cure"? No, just more poisonous snake oil from the most poisonous scam-man on earth.
Next, Mr. Bone-spurs will use tariffs as a "cudgel" to get out of impeachment and get out of jail free card.
Mexico will stop the immigrants as soon as trump stops the avaricious American demand for drugs that is decimating Mexico - I'm sure trump will meet the same deadline he has dictated to Mexico of June 10th. President Obrador and Mr. Illegitimate president trump, get ready to snap your fingers to get it done.
Trump is authoring a new book - How to Insult People and Denigrate Friends and Trash Deals.
I bet Putin has asked for additional padding under his carpeting. He's so sore of rolling around on the floor laughing so much and so hard lately at his apprentice's, his protege's humiliating dismantling of American greatness on the world stage. And those living in truth deserts in red states and districts are clueless - fed by the NRA-Russian-trump-Murdoch-Republican-Evangelical-Mercers-Adelson & ilk propaganda machinery.
9
Clearly the Liar In Chief pseudo President could care less if one pays $5 for a Hass avocado. His diet consists of cheeseburgers, fries, KFC, diet sodas. He is losing, more each day, his grip on reality. His tariffs are a losing proposition that will hurt the economy, on both sides. He seems to revel in adding pain to us all. He is clearly an unhappy, insecure man. Get the buffoon off the stage. Where is Sandman Sims with the hook?
Vote him OUT in 2020!
8
Bully, bluster, and bravado are the only tools in DJT's box. Whenever his opponent doesn't back down, he has no idea what to do.
3
Old Mitch McConnell had a farm
E-I-E-I-O
And on his farm he had Donald the duck
E-I-E-I-O
With a quack quack here
And a tariff tariff there
Here a tariff, there a tariff
Everywhere a tariff tariff
E-I-E.....In the end we'll all OWE!
4
Mueller had a news conference. POTUS needed to change the news cycle quickly. It worked. Again. Get a clue.
11
This weekend would have been all about Mueller, Mueller and Mueller. How quickly it changed to Mexico, Mexico , Mexico . The troll rules the world, or like to think so !!
7
The editors should have said that all tariffs are wrong, that the trade war with China is hurting both countries, and that Trump’s Cold War with China is stupid and dangerous.
1
Heard this on NPR’s Marketplace—Why is Peter Navarro still claiming China and Mexico will pay the tariffs? Is he just an idiot or a liar, or both? And why isn’t the media pushing back? This is utterly incomprehensible.
10
Shorthand: Trump has to go bye-bye.
2
As a Canadian who has listened to the presidential blather about Canadian steel posing a security threat, I can see how this will both cripple NAFTA-laugh-aloud or whatever the acronym currently is and keep me and many others north of the border on our sustained travel ban...to the States, united...not so much.
Last year, my country, this year. Mexico...your turn. Puerto Rico, you’re up next...oh right, you are a protectorate. And how has that worked out recently?
The world is being tariffed-off by the Charlatan. Sadly, he thinks that’s a city.
4
What is the old saying? "To a man with a hammer every problem appears to be a nail?"
Dumb Donny hammering away at everything within sight. All he is capable of is destruction. Sad.
On the up side, if he keeps this up the Republicans won't have an "great" economy to run in next year. They will be run out of town instead.
4
For President Trump, “tariffs to others” is his universal “painkiller” of all our pains.
1
Since this is more dangerous 'staging' for his core. One can only conclude Trump attracts some of the most ignorant folks imaginable.
4
— So we’re going to tax Americans until Mexico stops allowing people from Central America to exercise their legal right to seek admission to the United States? — And the U.S. is also going to stop them from exercising this right using our DHS agents together with the Guatemalan police to block them from crossing the Guatemalan border into Mexico on their way to the U.S.
1
I am willing to pay more for Mexico’s products if it will encourage Mexico to stop the bus loads of migrants from easily transiting Mexico.
1
The Times is quite right. Period.
There's a pattern to Trump's MO.
Every time he gets in trouble he strikes out at another who's weaker and attempts to distract from his own mess.
It was dull and stupid long before he got to be Pres.
2
Is there nothing POTUS cannot do w/o Congress? Time to amend the Constitution to just get rid of it.
Trump thinks tariffs imposed on China and Mexico will endear him to his base, without realizing that it is hurting his very base.
This is all about looking tough. The man doesn't know economics or much of anything else.
Remember, just yesterday, regarding impeachment, he said he can't "can't imagine the courts allowing it."
"The courts" have nothing to do with allowing or preventing impeachment. That comes under the Congress's domain.
An ignoramus, probably the worst one, is occupying the White House and the more time he is in power, the worse off the country will be.
5
Mr. Trump does not believe that tariffs are an appropriate way to combat the immigration problem. He is a simpleton and a bully who is cornered on his signature issue and is flailing. He has little power over Mexico and so he grabs one of the cudgels he has, the tariffs. But the poor man doesn’t understand it is not Mexico he is hitting over the head, it’s us as we pay higher prices and it tanks our economy. More concerning he doesn’t care as long as he thinks it makes him look tough.
2
We could go the "No Tariff" route.
Declare marshal law from the border up to 50 miles, San Diego to Brownsville. There won't have to be any impact on citizens, but, if you are in the country illegally, adios. Back across the line. No ifs, ands or buts.
Of course this would go away when, or if, Congress gets the "magical immigration reform" passed.
And, if 50 miles doesn't work, marshal law for the whole country. Round 'em up. Send 'em back.
I bet it could be done in less time than a 5 week recess.
1
Tariffs are all he knows
He’d use them anywhere he thought “ punishing” others would be motivation to change course.it isn’t.
What a failed observer of human behaviour.
He plans to crash the US economy and walk away.
Watch.
Past behaviour is the best indicator of future behaviour.
1
Will people please stop talking about Trump and begin talking about Graham, McConnell and the rest that are allowing this to happen?
5
It is not only the aggressive bullying that hallmarks the Trump administration it is also the unpredictable volatility of the president's behavior.
Watching Trump in action is like trying to follow the trajectory of a fully inflated party balloon suddenly released into the air as it flips and flops erratically this way and that before finally coming to rest somewhere, flaccid and spent.
Who can, or would, willingly do business with such mindless leadership that metes out punishment at the same time as the president attempts to sell a comprehensive trade agreement to the governments of Mexico and Canada?
Let's call this as it is; it is just plain stupid, which is something you can't fix except by getting rid of it. Call it our "2020 Project."
4
Republicans: Wake up! This toddler is single-handedly destroying our economy to satisfy his own fragile ego. And you are enabling him. Enough is enough. Impeach!!! It's not a dirty word. It's in the Constitution.
3
Have you ever met people who just like to play nasty to you for no reason? This is how Mexico treats us. They can easily block the migrants from entering their own country and reaching the US border. But Mexico just doesn't like to help its neighbor, even though its economy depends on us. We finally have a president who knows how to teach them to play nice. Eventually, Mexico will benefit from the tough love.
I mean really...America has a president who thinks the courts can stop impeachment and this same ignorant man is being allowed to inflict chaotic economic damage on the country with unfettered hand?
5
It's a loop closer! The president imposes tariffs, Mexico's economy takes a direct hit, leading to more migration northward, neatly tied into his Campaign of Fear 2020.
His crack policy team (Fox & Friends, Hannity, Judge Jeanine, Laura Ingraham) will work out later how to blame democrats for that small detail about tariffs as a consumption tax on Americans.
2
Here is a small slice of what supply chains look like now. The Boeing 787 requires extra attention to quality control. Such things cannot be turned on a dime and maintain appropriate quality.
https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-787-dreamliner-structure-suppliers-2013-10
I really don't think Trump give any thought to what companies do to produce products now. Globalization is here to stay and Trump's tariffs are just causing problems across the entire spectrum...Trump just seems to hate everyone.
2
Smoot and Hawley must be spinning in their graves over the latest attack on the American economy by Tariff Man Trump. First, he tried to destroy China’s economy in order to save ours. Now he’s threatening Mexico with tariffs which, of course Americans will pay in higher prices, to bully and bludgeon them into halting immigrants fleeing for their lives from Central American countries seeking refuge and sanctuary here. Clearly, he needs an intervention by Melania if the House Democrats are too timid to assert their Constitutional authority over tariffs.
1
Trump's constant TARIFFS are for media hogging, constant attention-getting, promotion of CHAOS and PLEASING PUTIN! Putin has benefited mightily from everything Trump has done to wreck the United States and pull it down from its international status. Putin wins!!
2
I rarely find myself agreeing with the Times' Editorial Board, but this time I have to. President Trump is one of the most interventionist presidents I've witnessed in my lifetime. I hope he doesn't plan to run on a platform of "free enterprise." Where is Milton Friedman when you need him? Why Larry Kudlow hasn't resigned on principal is a mystery to me.
4
Check out the deafening silence from the Libertarians, usually they scream bloody murder when tariffs are proposed.
2
I think President Trump is absolutely on the right track! He should, just like he did with that bizarre, I mean forward thinking Muslim ban "until he and his team could figure out what was going on," I suggest he stop all imports until certain countries comply with his demands.
For example Saudi Arabian oil imports? stopped until they buy the $100 Billion or was it $200 Billion or some such figure he quoted of American military hardware. Ditto, Iraq. No more oil from them until they stop ISIS and make them behave.
No more Turkeys from Turkey, wait what? they don't grow turkeys? why did they brand themselves Turkey. Seems silly.
No car imports from Europe, Japan, South Korea until they do whatever he wants them to do...meanwhile we can import Russian made cars, oil and their Government approved and endorsed cyber criminals who know how to change elections.
We don't buy whatever Norway exports until they also send us several thousand blue eyed blond men and women to work our farms, his resorts etc.
No more Indian tech workers until they buy a bazillion Harleys, soy beans, milk, beef etc etc...
What about it Mr President?
This might actually make America Great Again!
3
What depresses me is seeing a lot of Trump Supporters revealing that at base-- They think that Donald's simplistic actions should work...because he acts like they do:
Problems are best solved by Simple Solutions.
A nation can manage itself like Aunt Millie does with her checkbook at the Kitchen Table.
Nobody wants to listen to the person who starts telling them that Global Economics is more complex than it looks when all you see is the box on the shelf at Walmart at a Price you don't like.
Sorry folks. I understand your frustration...but the ECONOMY is a lot more complicated than Donny Boy understands.
And more specifically for the average Working Guy or Gal...the MACRO ECONOMY & TRADE POLICY does NOT WORK for the Little Guy on Main Street. We are just one of the cogs in the greater, complicated engine.
And Complicated Engines require KNOWLEDGEABLE ENGINEERS to operate them...not an ignorant man who only knows how to throw rocks at it and kick it.
Gods...we've got 522 days until November 2020 before we can put smart people back into the Government.
3
"The evidence is clear: Mr. Trump’s tariffs are taxes being paid by Americans."
Doesn't the Times know that
1. Trumps knows that but it is a good line to sell it to his base that the tariffs are paid by whatever other country, and
2. In Trumpland facts and evidence mean nothing.
So repeating facts will change nothing, not for the liar-in-chief and not for his base.
2
What is it about tariffs that drives anti-Trump people so crazy. You'd think they were talking about abortion or prayer in school they way they react so viscerally to any talk of tariffs. It's not just about simple textbook economics, or the price of a toaster-oven in Wal-Mart, is it? No, tariffs symbolize something much greater than mere tax policy. I wish somebody could explain it to me because meanwhile I'm paying a lot of taxes and it doesn't seem to bother anybody -- and I"m middle-class.
Well, were not taking impeachment. That may be the point.
2
I am seriously wondering if trump and his family and close associates are shorting stocks before tariff announcements.
8
(Dear economists,
Please don’t tell Trump voters that they are the ones paying these tariffs.
Thank you.)
5
Au contraire. Somebody needs to tell them until they get it through their low-information heads. Until they understand that Trump is doing nothing for them......never mind, they’ll never understand. Carry on.
2
Canada, Mexico and China will bide their time until sense returns to American governance.
Trump doesn't use bully tactics like tariffs because they are that useful, he uses them because he is incapable of pursuing - or even contemplating - more effective strategies.
4
Trump seems to believe that he can somehow coerce Mexico into completely stopping the flow of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants... where does he get the idea that Mexico has the wherewithal to accomplish this? They can't do anything to change conditions in other Latin American countries, they are still mired in violence from the cartels, and still struggling to make their own country fully stable - how in god's name are they supposed to completely seal the border? No amount of tariffs, insults, or pointless walls can give them the ability to achieve this.
4
Every time #45 slaps tariffs on something or somebody, he is in effect raising American taxes. Why doesn't the read-my-lips-no-new-taxes GOP say something? Is it because they, like #45, think the other country has to pay the tariffs and they truly do not understand that Americans pay the extra cost for those goods? Could they really be that ill-informed? Or is it because their ultra-rich handlers don't have to pay the new taxes/tariffs, so they don't care? Or did they never really believe the "no taxes" shtick, and just said it to gin up their base? Or it is just that they are so petrified of #45 that if they say one contrary word, he will turn on them like a rabid dog and sic his base on them and sink their perk/power-lined political career?
2
You don't have to pay the "tax" if you choose not to buy your product from China or Mexico. It's everyone's choice.
Minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.50 an hour. That's one reason why so many migrants head north to begin with. And although I'm sure it isn't President Trump's underlying motive, if China and Mexico both raised their country's minimum to a dollar-equivalent $7.50, not only could tariffs be lifted, but their respective economies would flourish, too.
I'm a registered Democrat, but I support the president's tariff wars to the extent they help American workers. If my party would get behind supporting American workers, it could once again become the dominant political party in the U.S. as it was pre-1980s.
2
AOC and Ted Cruz have the right idea: a lifetime ban on Congress persons becoming lobbyists. But they should go further. Perhaps very short term limits on all elected officials. Harsher laws for politicians who take bribes.
Clearly we have a president and his aiders and abettors that have totally displaced our country’s interests with their own self interests.
4
All of Trump's Democratic challengers--but especially the nominee--should hammer home the point that his tariffs are effectively taxes raised on all Americans.
3
I suspect that Mr. Trump is motivated in his one-step-forward-two-steps-back erratic tariff-based trade-policy overhaul by a desire to create a list of “presidential accomplishments.” In preparation for his imagined unstoppable re-election campaign, Trump desperately needs more executive victories to crow about.
With no substantive knowledge of economics, human rights, national security, or just about anything a president needs to know, Trump is wildly casting about — making decision after half-baked decision — in the hope that something noteworthy will result from his actions. He appears to favor applying/rescinding random tariffs as his medium of choice.
In getting ready for his attempt at another term of office, our president is moving us ever closer to a very depressing “national theater of the absurd” drama.
8
What's not to like about tariffs if you are Trump?
The base really likes the idea that finally we are sticking to people they feel are winning unfairly, and they don't notice it is a sales tax that they pay on goods, that offsets some of the tax cuts to the rich.
When it actually causes distress in the economy, no one in the base will believe it is the result of tariffs, because they believe that other nations actually pay for them, and because they don't really understand global markets, supply chains and people in other countries who can manufacture and sell to places other than the US.
Money in the coffers, approval ratings from the base, and the likelihood that the impact will crater the next administration, not this one, because these things take time. It is all good.
6
Trump's tariff manipulation is not, I think, a matter of policy or strategy. Rather, it is a personal strategy by our deficient leader who is incapable of coordinating and working with others in almost every sphere of action. He is an unguided individualist who manages others and immediate problems by using his own unrestricted power to keep others confused, off guard, and subject to his constantly changing positions. The idea is, I think, to keep others off-balance, constantly confused and thus unable to conduct a consistent strategy. This is his modus operandi. No forethought, no policy, no consulting with anyone who might have an understanding of the complex issues involved. It is all about ME. What do you think of ME and, alternately, I do not care what you think of ME.
11
As a former real estate magnate, Trump is primarily interested in cashflow that can be generated by - whatever it takes. Bullying, suing people at random, vicious threats and similar tactics that are often reminiscent of the gangster milieu of Queens, NY, where DJT grew up, albeit with a silver spoon in his mouth, are now transferred to the international domain. Never mind the inviolability of sovereign countries and their elected officials: If Trump tells them to shut up and listen and do as he says, that's what apparently a large number of the US public seem to consider his (divine?) right. And talking about 'regime change' in any far-away country as though it were a perfectly normal policy to adhere to for an elected official of what once was a civil government in the western hemisphere? How much longer can this go on?
12
We are already seeing the effect of these endless trade wars on the markets. One thing that ought to be mentioned is that in this regard Sanders is in the same league as Trump
1
@Greg Jones
Please explain your comment on Sanders. I assume you are not referring to Huckabe Sanders, but if you are, you would be correct.
Bernie Sanders understands international relationships, and he is a man of his word - as John McCain, himself, said. He would be great as a follow up to Tantrum Trump. The world could trust him to follow through on his commitments.
6
The problem with Trump is that eventually he'll run out of other people's money [to spend].
How much more of "winning" can we take?
10
The fundamental issue is not Trump's tariff tweets or even actual tariffs. Rather, it how the President acquired the power to do this and, more importantly, how the Presidency and the Executive Branch of our government acquired more and more power through Administrations of many decades and both parties, how Congresses dominated by both parties more and more shirked their responsibilities by turning over power to the Executive Branch.
Of course the ultimate malfeasance and responsibility resides with the American people all across the political spectrum who, when they like a particular President, are happy to give him more power, ignoring the fact that such power will remain in that office when occupied by someone they do not support.
Congresses' most sacred duty is its Constitutionally mandated authority to declare war. Nonetheless, war has not been declared since 1941, not for our wars in Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and a number of "lesser" conflicts. Meanwhile they busily encouraged and funded these wars. However, again the final onus is on the American people across the political spectrum for electing these people to Congress, usually the same ones over and over again.
Collectively, the answer my friend is not blowin' in the wind, it's in the mirror.
And yet people wonder how President Trump got the power to do so much mischief.
8
"Moreover, while Mr. Trump tends to refer to all of the immigrants as illegal, many of them are exercising a legal right to seek asylum."
Actions, not people, can be "illegal."
Could I suggest a rewrite here, which strikes a neat rhetorical and factual balance: "Moreover, while … tends to refer to all of the immigrants as acting illegally, many of them, in fact, are exercising a legal right to seek asylum."
6
Why does the president alone have the power to set tariffs.
If this was Congressional Power constitutional its another example where the Congress cedes its authority to the President. Given this consequence was in the making since the President was given the authority in my view inappropriately what right we have to complain.
2
@Michael Cohen
Congress does impose tariffs. Not the president.
Article 1 - The Legislative Branch
Section 8 - Powers of Congress
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States...
6
Tariffs are a tax paid for by those who buy goods. Since poor and middle income people have to spend a much higher fraction of their income on goods, this tax is heaviest on the poor, then the middle class. The small tax cut they got this year will be eaten up by higher prices.
But the tariff increase has minimal effect on the ultra-wealthy who got a big tax cut from Trump. So, in effect, Trump is making poor and middle income Americans pay for a tax cut for the wealthy.
8
@MBR
The top CEOs got a 7% salary increase this, which is equal to $800,000.
5
What a great trade policy! First, Trump imposes tariffs on China. U.S. companies start moving away from China, some of which move to Mexico. Now, tariffs on Mexico. The "winners" from these irrational policies? All of us. We will have to pay higher prices on Chinese and Mexican imported products. What's next? tariffs on European cars, which Trump already threatened. Be ready for a recession.
5
Once again a Republican administration runs the economy into the ground. Anyone still clinging to the old trope 'Republicans are fiscal conservatives, Democrats spend money foolishly' are delusional and certainly not paying attention. It will take a Democratic administration to once again get the economy back on track and make a start, once again as well, on healing the damage done to people and institutions. Vote them out in 2020.
11
Where does the income from these tariffs go? Does the government collect them or do the importers get to keep them?
If they end up in the feds bank account, maybe we can convince the dumpster to use them to improve conditions in the poorer Central American countries and send training officers to help train and supervise the police forces in these countries.
Refugees flee from danger and threats of death quicker than from economic issues---these countries have been poor for centuries. Perhaps inhouse aid there and better police and public health services would mean that people could stay home----which I bet they would like as much as the dumpster would like not having them lining up at the border.
2
Does anyone remember Alliance for Progress, a program created by JFK to provide aid to Latin America?
The great majority of these migrants are forced to run for their lives from their own country in part by the chaos caused by forced repatriations, lack of opportunities and the hands off approach of our own clearly misguided foreign policy.
If we help create opportunities in their own country, they will stay there. Use NGO, use "carrot and stick" policies to force their governments to at least play fair. Then more likely than not, they will stay there and not come here.
Problem is that our own born and bred are being short changed by corporate greed with low wages and little or no chances to move forward socially, educationally and profesionally.
6
People have a legal right to seek admission to the US...at a US consulate abroad. They do not have an unfettered right to admission into the US at the border. Trump is trying to stop the latter and I support him on this point.
No, they have a legal right to apply for asylum at the border. Look it up.
3
If threat of tariffs caused Mexico to begin pulling the drivers licenses of bus drivers who transport migrants, would that be such a bad thing? It would not be hard for Mexico to take a few actions like that to make land transit to the US a bigger obstacle.
14
@Worrier
just like in the US, they will drive regardless without a license and without any documents. Wishful thinking.
13
@Worrier
Not the best example. A driver's license is issued by each Mexican state. Not sure the federal government can just "pull the licenses". If Mr Trump wanted to do something similar here, his administration would have to get each state to cooperate. Which federal agency would even have the authority to make that request? Wouldn't the drivers or the companies affected try to stop the action with law suits?
"Mexico" is not one monolithic entity. So I disagree. Most quick actions would be difficult for "Mexico" to take.
18
@Worrier It has been the case that we love our neighbors, but they don't want to do anything for us. We finally have a president with common senses to tell our neighbors that if you don't want to be nice to us, we put tariffs on you. The choice is yours. MAGA!
3
My take as a Canadian is that the blatant disregard of US NAFTA obligations by the President degrades & destabilizes North American trade links & places ratification by Mexico & Canada of NAFTA2 (aka USMCA) in serious doubt. The tariffs announced will only make matters worse.
The effective & constructive response to the refugee crises at both the Mexican & US southern borders is for the US, Canada & Mexico to take concerted action in concert to help, encourage & (where necessary) insist that the Central American countries address their domestic poverty & oppression that cause hundreds of thousands of their citizens to flee north.
Turning to the broader picture, the coming decades, unless constructive measures are instituted, will be marked by growing mass movements by millions of economic refugees from across the 4 corners of the world. The advanced, prosperous countries can respond either by:
(a) militarizing their borders in a failed attempt to respond (one cost being the implosion of their democracies), or by
(b) working in concert & with the countries from which economic refugees are fleeing to address the oppression & economic deprivation that engenders mass economic refugee migration on a global scale.
A pause for careful thought should convince most of us that option (b) above is infinitely better.
3
Trump's word is worthless. Who or what country would do any kind of deal with him?
8
He has completely lost it.
We can consider ourselves lucky if we don’t end up in the worst depression ever!
6
Wharton gave this man a degree.
Wharton!!
Let that sink in.
5
Trump does NOT have a MBA from Wharton. He has an undergraduate degree in Real Estate/ Business from the University of Pennsylvania.
3
@JeffPutterman
Wharton isn't bragging about it despite his being their only student to become president.
He attended Wharton as an undergrad. I am not even sure he graduated. Does anyone have evidence that he did? I'm pretty sure he won't release any proof. Maybe he flunked out.
2
Yes, DJT certainly loves the T word.
If his administration could just figure out how to impose tariffs on the ill, the infirm, the drug companies, the medical device manufacturers, hospitals, and the insurance companies... well. That would fix healthcare in short order!
Let's not forget what A. Maslow had to say about hammers.
2
Well, US got the "business man" they voted for. Reminds me of one of my fav SNL jokes, "The Art of the Deal" - only book with 4 chapter 11s.
18
Every con man has the snake oil he sells.
4
A crude tool.
1
watch what he does then bet against him
.he has a track record and it is consistent. he is a popular loser. even a blind squirrel finds a nut occasionally. he is that squirrel.
.
Trump is hurting Americans twice with this policy:
First, with 7.5 million job openings, GDP (i.e., national income) would be higher if we opened our doors and let those workers in. GDP = Number of workers x productivity, so let's maximize it!
Second, tariffs are a regressive tax paid mainly by middle and working class, as these groups pay relatively more of their income for stuff from Walmart and Target, which have announced they are raising prices specifically in response to the tariffs.
Thanks, Mr. President!
4
"New Tariffs!" from Tariff Man is like "Off with her head!" from the Queen of Hearts.
6
For such a high IQ individual, how does Trump know so little about basic economics?
6
The author falsely beleives there is a legitimate strategy for Trump's Tariffs. He is mistaken.
All Trump's tariff's are designed to do is significanly create a hardened class stratification and increase the burden of supporting the government on the backs of those of the most modest means. This will damage our country going forward and allow an old version of crony capitalism and the super rich to hijack the workings of our country.
America is on a dangerous path.
7
Tariffs are a sop to xenophobes and bigots, Trump’s base. Flip side of anti-immigrant policy. Sister ship of blame others.
3
Like an eight year old at a birthday party, eyes fixed on the pinata and the wealth of goodies he just knows it’s bursting with, and our greedy little Tariff Man starts flailing away.
5
Little man indeed.
Do Trump's supporters buy things? Do they own stocks? How do they not see what a disaster he is? Mr. Art of the Deal has yet to broker ANY deals. He's a bully and a liar and I don't understand how so many people fail to see the truth. If he's reelected, my family will move to another country. I can't take another four years of this.
7
25th Amendment. Please!
5
There only two rational explanations for Trump's trade wars' suicidal impact on our and the world's economies. Either Trump is stupider than even his worst critics have assumed. Or Trump's a terroristic Manchurian Candidate robot operated by Putin who is deliberately piloting the US economy into a deadly collision with the mountain of reality, to wreck us much more devastatingly than Al Qaeda ever did on 9/11.
8
It looks like, based on the NYT report below, that Mr. Trump's tough talk is having the desired effect.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/world/americas/mexico-trump-tariffs-migrants.html
Compromise... not halting the flow of illegal immigrants, which they don't have the ability to do.
1
Trump is like a three-year old with a loaded gun. McConnell and the Republican enablers act like entitled parents who think anything Pugsley does is cute. His supporters just enjoy watching the grownups get steamed.
The rest of us just take cover.
6
Trump's ignorance is breathtaking. He thinks he can make "deals" about immigration and force other countries to do his bidding...all at the cost of the American consumer.
He tries to look tough to his base...and he tries to look tough on immigration by blaming Mexico and doing nothing to get at the root causes. People from Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador are fleeing murderous drug gangs (feeding America's great demand for marijuana, cocaine and opiates) and crushing poverty. These people are refugees. We're not trying to improve their economies or bolster their police forces. Trump says cut spending if they don't stop "illegal" immigration.
His base believes him. They're all a bunch of xenophobic ignoramuses.
4
Trump obviously thinks he is on to something with all this tariff business. If he had half a brain, he might wonder why no other president ever tried it before to the extent he has.
4
If the Democrats in Congress would do their jobs we wouldnt have resort to such extreme measures. But alas they are still trying to blame Russia for the 2016 Election.
Nancy,Chuck and Nadler are an embarrassment. I'll take DJT actually doing something over their Impeachment nonsense anyday.
The Socialist President of Mexico will respond to the Tariffs and actually start policing his borders before they reach 25%, or possibly sooner.
Well, if his "wag the dog" strategy is trade war and not military war, in a way this may be a blessing.
He is about to inflict a lot of pain. A lot of it on his base. Let's hope the lesson doesn't get lost and at least this suffering opens people's eyes.
Some (though not enough) Republican lawmakers in Kansas were able to see how catastrophic Brownback's Kansas experiment was. They had to see it to believe it.
We are all Kansans now. If there can be an upside to the implementation of fringe, ill-conceived, trade strategies is that it will produce tangible results about how catastrophic they can truly be.
Of course, he can always just not follow thru with the threat due to incompetence or distraction. He is very good at that too.
3
We need to stop saying "tariffs are paid for by X".
Tariffs, like any other tax, shrink markets. They chase away consumers who would be willing to pay the price without the tariff, so the transaction never takes place - both the consumer and the producer lose.
In general, if a consumer has no other choice for the good being imported, they will pay for the tariff through an increased price. If consumers can walk away easily (demand is elastic in econ speak), the producer usually eats the price adjustment.
Both countries are harmed by tariffs, but "who pays" demands on the demand/supply condition for the particular good.
2
Here is the beauty of Trump's tariffs: They are a tax that Americans seem willing to pay!! The GOP can still go around and say that they are against taxes, they did not vote for any taxes. It is true. No tax bill has been proposed and brought forward. But...the tariffs are indeed taxes imposed by Trump on the American consumer. How much have these brought in, I wonder, so far? The gullible Americans who are Trump supporters willingly go along with these taxes.
2
I've said, since 2016, if you really want to get a rid of trump then start a recession.
Unsurprisingly, he seems to be starting one for us.
2
@V
The Economy is doing incredibly well. I get frustrated that so many Americans would rather our country fail. Respect the office. Respect the results. You don't have to respect the man.
@Danny
If the economy is doing so well then why do we need walls and tariffs?
2
Trump to factory workers is what Schumer is to farmers
Quote :
"Schumer calls for an end to Canadian program hurting upstate dairy farmers"
"Schumer accused Canada of creating a market distorting system, that tripled Canada’s milk exports.
“Canada, when it comes to dairy, acts like China when it comes to trade," Schumer said. "They’re unfair. They put up barriers. They treat us bad.”
"“We want to just go back to the way it was," Schumer said. "When we sent powdered milk to Canada, it was of good quality and of a good price. Canada bought a whole lot of it. But their dairy farmers couldn't compete with ours. What Canada did is set up this predatory pricing, which not only hurts our exports to Canada, but when they're trying to export to France or the Philippines or some other place, Canada's predatory pricing allows Canada to unfairly undercut our prices, so it hurts across the board."
https://www.wrvo.org/post/schumer-calls-end-canadian-program-hurting-upstate-dairy-farmers
Where was the NY Times Board then ?
At the next rambling dissembling press conference Trump conducts, will someone from the press please ask our President just who exactly does he think pays for these tariffs? I want to actually hear from his mouth the glaringly incompetent and irrational reasoning behind his acts of retribution.
2
@Rick Morris
You already know the answer. He will say it is China or Mexico paying these tariffs (in reality they are taxes that Americans will be paying). And, most importantly, gullible Americans will believe Trump.
2
When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
3
All problems can be fixed by increasing taxes. That's exactly what my inept leader Trudeau believes in my country. The difference is your leader taxes foreigners .
No, he taxes American consumers while harming foreign economies. This isn't a challenging concept.
1
May be the United States could secede from the deep south and Trump could be their de-facto king for the eternity. That eternity would be only short-lived though. Red states predominantly live off blue state budgets while constantly wanting the blue states to align to red state belief system.
3
It is the art of "Shock and Awe" propaganda as the Trump Wall st Administration manipulates the news, once again on a Friday to mold the weekend discussions. Don't you all see this strategy? You must at least bring it to light and counter it to remain a legitimate news source worthy of trust.
1
If you're a ball peen hammer, every problem looks like a windshield.
2
Trump is lashing out because that is what those with limited intellect and maturity do.
Vote in 2020. For anyone else.
3
I'm wondering if Trump's good friend Putin might have a hand in this weird influx of immigrants from central America ... just how do you organise seven thousand or more people into a simultaneous caravan? It sure is serving to undermine relationships in the western hemisphere and disrupt and destabilise the American body public.
1
Trump's idea of the Art of the Deal is swinging a sledgehammer and insisting on his way. It's basically his only negotiating tool.
He used it to quash lawsuits for failure to pay small vendors who couldn't afford to fight him. He used it with tenants. And elsewhere.
Now he uses it in the form of tariffs, which he claims other people pay. No, Mr. Trump, ultimately Americans pay for your poor judgment and lack of negotiating skills. We are tired of it.
3
"Mexico has taken advantage of the United States for decades." D. Trump. Hmm.......I live 20 minutes away from the GM Plant in Silao, Mexico. The workers there don't make enough to support a family. Environmental restrictions are minimal. Labor is dirt cheap. The cost of producing vehicles is nothing compared to that of the U.S. And a large percentage of those vehicles in fact go back to the United States to be sold. I'm sorry, who's taking advantage of whom? GM must be really hurting as a result of Mexico taking advantage of the U.S.
6
Only the stable genius could yoke together the immigration "problem" with tariffs and go after trading partners that are also neighbors! As another commentator noted, if the resident president and his cohots could work w/Mexico, Central Americans, and South Americans, that would be a very good counter-balance to Asian/other trade blocs. But it takes more than fighter jets, tanks,troops....perhaps economic and state department smart folk to work on that? That's a big perhaps.
2
The Smoot-Hawley Tariff helped trigger the Great Depression, does the President want another one?
3
@Malcolm The key difference here is it is basically limited to 2 countries, albeit important countries. Mexico and China. Since they make a ton of money from us, they should make a little more effort to ensure we are very happy with the relationship. Now is the time for them to undertake that effort.
Smoot-Hawley was basically a blanket tariff against imports in general. The goal here is not to eliminate trade. The goal is an orderly trade and immigration system, instead of chaos and crime.
1
Flail, bark, stumble, lie, repeat. Much as I hate to see him inflict himself on our friends in Great Britain these next few days, it’d be nice to at least get the weekend off from rapid-fire futility.
1
After losing 1.17 billion between 1985 and 1994, the „deal-maker“ seems to think it is a good idea to lose someone else’s money.
1
This is not TRUE. I own a product development company. I work with China, and Mexico. The Tariffs are working. The Chinese are scared to death. They are going to play ball because they need America to buy their products they make. Tariffs are paid by the company that imports the products. But what it makes someone like me do is look for alternatives. Which is exactly what Trump wants. We have found alternative methods to make our products that cut out the Chinese. Smart business owners do the same thing. He wants things being made here in the USA. Which is a noble idea. We did it before... why can't we do it again?
1
@Danny
So every major business including China in their supply chain can very quickly find alternatives? The businesses in China will not find alternative customers to those in the United States?
Sweet, victory is assured and no increases in prices for consumers will affect the U.S. economy.
What will China do? It will go back to the days of backyard pig iron manufacturing and bicycles instead of automobiles unless it gets in line with Trump's expectations.
2
@Danny
"...He wants things being made here in the USA. Which is a noble idea. We did it before... why can't we do it again?"
Why did U.S. Steel Corporation close huge integrated mills across the country and then buy Marathon Oil in the late 1970's? It was not feasible to replace the antiquated technology and make back the money invested in a reasonable time. Our businesses let manufacturing go because they were no longer competitive.
Big businesses were eager to invest in new manufacturing and heavy industry in China because it promised the greatest profits anywhere over the next century. The United States was a good place to store money but not so great a place to make a lot of it over time.
1
I await additional plaudits from some of the other dozen or so business owners who are enjoying similar tariff war victories.
4
Now that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is protesting, Trump will back off but quick. The truth of the matter is Republican-backing businesses rely heavily on undocumented laborers and Trump has done everything to stop them except arresting "employers" who illegally hire them in the first place. It's all a show. If employers were subjected to incarceration the jobs would dry-up and the workers would "self-deport" of their own volition.
7
Trump will not impose these tariffs. The institutions like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Manufacturer's Association will lobby against it and Trump will drop it.
But even his suggesting it shows a lack of concern for the consequences of either his words or deeds.
3
with his overuse of the tariffs strategy, Mr. Trump makes it easier and more politically acceptable for businesses to pass on costs to the American consumer.
2
Trump imposes tariffs because he has no idea how to make a deal.
12
Trump successfully distracted media attention away from his tweet gaffe yesterday morning admitting that Russia 2016 election meddling took place and that it helped him.
7
When all you know how to do is use a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
3
The fact that America has a political system that allows a minority to elect a specimen like Donald J. Trump is proof that there is no obligation for the world community to take the United States seriously any longer.
4
I wake up every morning from the same nightmare- the presidency of Donald J. Trump. I need it to end.
5
I wonder if Trump would embrace a carbon tax if it was presented to him as a "carbon tariff."
6
Once again, we are witnessing just how much damage one man can do. In this case, it’s the malevolent POTUS. There may be more down the road.
Congress, over the decades , has ceded far too much power to the executive branch. This is unhealthy in our system of government, no matter which party holds the presidency.
It’s well past time to bring Trump to heel , along with his branch.
3
Dear All,
Please think more deeply about this. Trump is scary and divisive. That he seems Clueless on most things, does not mean he is clueless on all things. I disagree with him on so many many many things that my list would exceed the allowed number of words here.
However.
Just finished reading James Rickards’ book "The Road to Ruin". It has lots of footnotes. I love books with lots of footnotes. I didn’t agree with everything in it either, but he makes some logical and incisive points. All those Free Trade Agreements, Pacts, etc. have allowed the good jobs migrate to other countries. The manufacturing and production jobs, the high paying jobs were the backbone of the middle class that has shrunk enough to be put on the endangered list. Other countries often exploit the laboring classes.
They don’t play by rules such as minimum wage and that engendered low labor costs, protectionism by tariff and twisty tax breaks, and even weakening their country’s own money to gain a trade imbalance advantage. Apparently we haven't been monitoring the playing field and have been losing to these strategies. I think Trump is trying to cure the patient. Our economy has been on the critical list for years. The Bush Wars exacerbated the condition. But it may be too late.
Respectfully,
Deborah
2
He is just a genius who has both the ability of out-of-box thinking and boldness to execute it. Money is the greatest weapon in a peaceful world. Why don't we use it if we can to solve our most critical problems?
It should work and it will work.
1
@Martian
So higher grocery prices in the USA will discourage Central American refugees from fleeing violence? How does that work?
12
Yeah just look at the fortune he made running his casinos with his out of the box thinking
3
@Fran Taylor
Buy soy beans or tofu made from it. They will be very cheap because Chinese won't buy them.
Forget about avocadoes for a while until Mexican government does their actions for helping their farmers.
Trump's fiat tariffs are not intended to solve any foreign policy problem. They are intended, purely, to distract from Trump's personal domestic problem, that Mueller, in a 9 minute speech, explicitly said that his work did NOT exonerate Trump.
We can expect further such catastrophic distractions using emergency executive powers at each point where his criminality once again comes to the foreground of public consciousness.
9
This is just another weapon in Trump's war against the lower and middle class. He gave billions to the rich with his tax bill, and now he is paying for it with a back-door, regressive tax on the poor and middle class. I long for the days when he judged his Presidency on how the stock market was fairing.
1
Folks folks...turn on the lights.
Stop wondering why all the tariffs.
The GOP just recently passed a major piece of tax legislation shifted the tax burden to the middle and working classes in order to cut billions in tax revenue from the super wealthy.
They now need novel ways to make up the shortfalls.
5
Well, this is very puzzling, isn't it? A year ago, Trump put tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum, because of 'national security'. He used these tariffs as a club while negotiating the new NAFTA agreement. In order to get Canada and Mexico to ratify the new NAFTA agreement, he recently removed those tariffs. Yesterday he sends Pence to Ottawa to encourage Canada to ratify the new NAFTA agreement. And on the same day he threatens Mexico with new tariffs, under the guise of 'national security'? 'Puzzling' doesn't adequately describe Trump's behaviour. Any other word I can think of is vulgar.
6
@Patrick MacDonald Perhaps the next time the NYT gets the opportunity to interview Trump, they could ask a questions like, "Mr. President, given that you're such a high IQ individual, could you explain how making Americans pay more for stuff will improve the immigration problem that you created?"
The last few months illustrates how incredibly fragile the international system is, and how easily it can be disrupted by executive order. International treaties are easily broken, and close alliances can be disregarded with little or no explanation. Most of this was unimaginable until now.
1
Trump has so few tools in his tool box
First his is not intellectually equipped to deal with much and second he doesn’t have the skills to negotiate with congress (even his own party)
So tariffs are about all he has.
5
"Tariffs, however, are a very crude tool."
What other kind of tool, approach, or statement has Trump ever employed?
6
"the Mexican economy likely also would suffer a loss of sales " Wait for the onslaught of new unwanted immigration because of the loss of jobs by Mexicans - the unintended consequence of tariffs on products from Mexico. What's a president supposed to do?
3
When will the administration focus on employers who hire illegal immigrants? This seems like a great place to start - but then again, this may be too close to home for The Trump Organization.
3
So tariffs will resolve the immigration crisis he exacerbated? Sure thing, Boy Donnie, and crossing apples and oranges will yield bananas - which is what the entire trump administration is.
4
It's a virtual certainty that Trump could not articulate exactly how the entire mechanism of tariffs ripples through the economy both domestically and globally.
It's doubtful if he even know who pays. From the sound of it he thinks that a tariff on Chinese goods is paid by the Chinese company that exports the goods to the U.S. or is somehow magically paid by the Chinese government.
If he fails to understand the fundamental flow of tariff payments how can he even begin to understand the broader effects?
He simply can not.
The so-called "businessman" is clueless and very bad for business.
9
@Pono
Ye of little faith! Trump is a stable genius with a high IQ.
2
First, Trump gave a huge tax cut to the richest people in our country. Now he has to pay for it. Taxes, I mean tariffs, for the middle class are the answer. And it is a sneaky tax. You don't fill out a form, you just write a bigger check for kids' sneakers, clothes for work, and boy, when you go to buy a car...
4
Tariffs act as a regressive tax. Those that spend a greater portion of their income on goods and services (to feed their children, etc.) pay a higher effective rate than those with income to invest and/or save.
Tariffs are essentially the same as a sales tax, albeit a very inefficient sales tax.
Trump has figured out that imposing tariffs helps to fund his tax giveaways to the .1%. This is just one more income transfer to the wealthy.
11
Depending on foreign manufacture makes us weak, and many American born companies have stabbed their country in the back. Time to return manufacturing to the U.S. It may take time and a little sacrifice, but the end result will be worth it.
1
It's not working because Trump doesn't work. He just wants to be told that he's a "very stable genius" and the best at everything. I think we all know the truth by now. Or at least, anyone with any critical thinking skills does.
4
Hmmm, and here I thought the NYT typically supported higher taxes and more government intervention! I've never understood why Mexico simply allows all the Central Americans to travel 2,000 miles through their country without doing anything about it, it only becoming an issue when they reach our border. And while one may not like this particular "tax", it's the only step I can recall any of our past few Presidents taking to address the issue, which is a big one regardless of ones political perspective.
3
@DJOHN
This wasn't a problem under Obama because the US supported the Central American countries with aid. Trump cut off that aid, so the criminals are running rampant and the people are fleeing.
1
People make it sound like closing off the 1,000 mile border is just a matter of willpower - it's not. Mexico could probably do better, but they can't come close to fully halting the flow of undocumented immigrants.
The lunatics are running the asylum!
In fact if we have to reduce our dependence on China, shifting manufacturing to near by countries is best for all. High end manufacturing as well as designing is done in USA and the assembly operations requiring low skills can be done in Mexico, and central America. The entire western hemisphere, which should also include Argentina, Brazil and Columbia etc can emerge as the biggest trading block in the world reducing immigration pressure on USA as well as prosperity for all.
3
Think of a number - no,sorry I mean a cheap trick. Now announce it and wait awhile. When nothing happens, fume, stamp your petulant little foot and say it's the Democrats' fault, naming Pelosi and Obama as the root causes. Now think of another cheap trick and continue the game.
I am confidently expecting that some clever Chinese entrepreneur will soon market this as a game for the whole family, perhaps calling it "Trump the Chump."
You may complain that I am not taking the situation seriously - and the President?
6
"...until Mexico stops allowing people from Central America to exercise their legal right to seek admission to the United States"
This sentence struck me like a lighting, what about us exercising our right to not admit them? Isn't that what sovereignty means?
There are no doubt many valid humanitarians grounds as to why we should let them in. However, that does not negate our sovereign right to enforce our border. that demarcates Americans vs. non-Americans. If international asylum law says we have to accept their asylum claims although they numbered in the hundred of thousands and no end in sight, what point is it to have a border?
Trump and many of his supporters may be bigots and racists, but they are not wrong in their assertion that the number of people requesting asylum is not sustainable- to our immigration system that processes them, our economy that absorbs them, and our culture that integrates them.
Last and not least, the vast number of migrants are straining our political system that fights over them. As David Frum said, "If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will" in the Atlantic, April 2019. While the Right reflexively want to block everybody out, the Left want to let everybody in. Both approaches are extremes and irrational. Such extremes will sow hatred in our hearts towards each other and prevent us from working towards sensible solutions.
So Trump is wrong. Give him workable proposals.
1
@Doodle
I think that you missed the point. This editorial is not about immigration but about the use of tariffs by Trump to implement his policies. Taxes (tariffs) on Americans to circumvent debate about those policies.
1
@GEO2SFO
Yes, I am not on point, my apology. Just needed somewhere to vent.
We actually have a labor shortage in the US, and not just for jobs requiring extensive education. As someone working in construction, believe me, we badly need workers in all trades, who can, with experience, become skilled. We need more immigrants, not fewer.
Such a thoughtless essay.
And therefore beautifully fitted to its topic, don’t you think?
1
Is there anything we can do to survive a president who refers to himself in the third person? There's definitely something psychologically wrong with the man who calls himself Trump.
4
@merchantofchaos its funny
".....and Americans will feel the pain."
Well, any good environmentalist will tell you Americans buy way too much cheap, disposable junk anyway. Even the poorest towns and neighborhoods seem not to lack cheap consumer goods. Whenever you're in a big box store, think about the transportation for shipping all the cheap foreign-made junk you see overflowing the shelves, imagine the toll in fuel use, pollution, waste of resources, climate change, species habitat losses.
Don't get me wrong, I despise Trump. But even a broken clock is right twice a day, and sometimes a president may accidently do the right thing for the wrong reasons.
2
The wise just avoid playing the zero sum games of ego-twits like Trump altogether. The US is earning a lot more isolation with Trump than it has by holding out against the Metric System.
1
Not be hyperbolic, but this is like the Game of Thrones ending. Trump is like Khalessi having already won the battle against Cersei and deciding to burn down kings landing. President Trump already carved out a marginal victory over the status quo with Nafta 2.0 so why risk burning it down over immigration? It's like the president has lost the ability to understand the impact of his actions in the sense of what the more significant victory is. The effect of tariffs will be to make life just a little more unaffordable for Americans and to push supply chains to yet another country south of us. The president seems to only be successful in the sense that he encourages fear of slighting him from his allies and enemies. It as if he thrives off of projecting that his allies and enemies shall know misery by the pen or tweet.
If they(his allies and enemies) will not love me, let it be fear, then.
Hopefully, it will not end in dust.
2
Another distraction from Mueller's report at the expense of at least two national economies...
6
I am just wildly curious about one "bigly" issue. Has it dawned on anyone else that now Trump is essentially telling Mexico and the world that HE CANNOT FIX THIS??? So, today, his refrain is fix it for me.....or else. If you truly think it is Mexico's job to protect Americans from immigrants they themselves are dealing with, I suggest perhaps it is time for Mr. Trump to abdicate his office.
He has made if abundantly clear he cannot handle this issue and now is punishing another nation for not solving it for him...It is like every attempt he makes to blame his own failures on others....Punish those who cannot or will not create a solution I can take credit for.
The level of arrogant incompetence is mind boggling.
6
Is it possible that this is a distraction from the recent statements of Robert Mueller, the talk of impeachment, and the ill-advised attempt to hide the USS JohnMcCain during his trip to Japan?
Anything is possible with current occupant of the Oval Office.
5
@MH
It's more than possible. It's a simple way to control the news cycle and distract people with short attention spans to forget that the Special Counsel said in certain terms that if we could have cleared DJT of crimes we would have stated so.
1
Whe prices go up, we don't adjust our buying habits. We keep buying the same stuff and we pay more. Did you go out and get a more efficient car when the price of gas went up? Did you switch beer brands when the price went up? No, you paid the higher price.
2
@Fran Taylor
Really? Since the price of a new car is a lot more than the price of gas, even over a year, it is usually not cost effective to run out and spend tens of thousands on a new car when the price of gas changes. The math isn't hard.
When it makes economic sense then you buy a new car.
Also if the price goes up on something I really like, I don't say - heck, I am going to get something else instead. Either I live without it, buy less or buy it less often, or decide to pay the added cost and economize elsewhere. If they raise the prices at Kane's that doesn't mean I am will go back to we-made-the-donuts-sometime-and-somewhere-this-week Dunkin's.
Marie, that was Fran's point. People will keep their habits even when prices go up.
Trump found a distraction from what Mueller said. Mueller’s comments affected him more than it affected the rest of us, because we read the news, and he doesn’t.
Next he’s going to do something about Iran.
9
If people who were part of the so called “caravans” knew that Trump would go to jail for Trump’s resorts hiring undocumented workers, maybe there would be fewer members of the caravan? And US corporations would hire fewer undocumented workers. But Trump could care less if his businesses violate immigration laws.
Mr. Trump also has no clue about shopping for food. In San Antonio, the largest grocer, HEB, stocks fresh produce from Mexico at very low prices. Will we have to pay more for produce from Mexico? For most US citizens, food prices is a larger percentage of a household budget than for the likes of Mr. Trump.
Additionally, will we have to buy American grown produce that relies heavily on pesticides and fertilizer?
And if American farmers start harvesting more food because the US buys less produce from Mexico, will that mean US farmers will hire more undocumented workers to grow and harvest crops? Probably so, and the tariffs will become self-defeating\non-productive and nothing more than a tax on consumers.
3
Trump's Tariff Consumption taxes on Americans is deeper than immigration from Mexico and economic protection. It's a criminal racketeering Conspiracy by the Trump Wall st administration and Congressional Republicans to defraud all American middle and lower class citizens to move their meager wealth on to the Wealthy of the nation.
It started a couple of years ago when the idea of Tariffs came up as a means of encouraging the return of American Manufacturing from foreign lands. The idea took the national stage when Republican Speaker Ryan publicly touted instituting "Duties" on all imports. Those "Duties" were quickly condemned as a Consumer tax and the idea was abandoned.
Then came Trump and the Art of the deceptive name change.
Trump saw a quick buck and a way to offset the shift of wealth to the rich; He renamed those "Duties"; "Tariffs".
Consider the Chronology; Republicans were planning on the shift of wealth and proposed the "Duties" Tax. Then the Republican Congress and the Trump Wall st Administration passed sweeping Tax cut giveaways to the wealthy individuals and corporations. Those tax cuts increased the budget deficit by 150 Billion a year. Now Trump is offsetting the Deficit with Tariff Consumer Consumption Taxes Now close to 137 Billion Dollars. His goal appears to be the adding the 17 Billion more with these Taxes going towards the deficit. He might boast about the accomplishment.
The Republican party is pillaging the nation. Use R.I.C.O.
5
Trump is assuming that the economy will continue to be strong is the face of all the headwinds. He thinks 3% growth of Q1 '19 will last and that will save him. The last China tariff declaration had the US companies loading up on inventories and that boosted growth. That is unsustainable. The U.S. consumer is in a very weak position. Low savings rate - dipped below 7% again. Record levels of household debt - surpassed peak of 2009-2010 recession levels. Home affordability is way down due to strong price appreciation and lack of down payments. If consumer weakens further that will put pressure on employment and can drag the entire economy into a deep recession. BTW, Fed's tool of lowering interest rate may not have the same effect as last time. Consumers will have to load-up on more debt, that's not a viable solution for many consumers already reeling under record debt. Buckle-up for a tumultuous second half of 2019. The tariff tool may become a curse. Be careful what you wish for.
1
Whatever tariffs could achieve theoretically is nixed by the Trumpian habit of imposing them unpredictably and whimsically. Putative positive achievements could stem from corporations investing more at home than abroad. But that requires planning, and planning requires predictability.
1
If congress would have gave Trump money to build a wall when he first wanted it my Avocados would still be 4 for $5. Now they are 4 for $5.25. I only buy about 8 per year so this will cost me about $.50 The cost of hundreds of thousands of "ILLEGAL" immigrant cost me and my company thousands a year in taxes. See, when you focus in on the little things you miss the bigger picture. I have nothing at all against "LEGAL" immigration but I do believe we need to change some laws there as well.
3
Congress was willing to give Trump $25 billion for the wall in exchange for protection of DACA “Dreamers” but he threw a tantrum and walked away from the deal.
4
@RS - The cost of hundreds of thousands of "ILLEGAL" immigrant cost me and my company thousands a year in taxes.
And the cost to many of us of the so-called tax cut and money grab by corporations is so much more than the amount your fret about. If you want to see who really costs you see who has all the money. (Then again you maybe one of the 1% who see that anyone anywhere who has a $1 means you don't have it and thus they are "stealing" from you.)
How did they cost you money? They pay taxes, participate in the economy, and work for criminally low wages. How do they cost you a dime?
1
While I do not like Trump or in general how he approaches being President I do think, contrary to what the author believes, that the threat of tariffs is, in fact, effective to get governments to make a change in habit. He may not get everything he wants but the reality is that every nation needs the U.S. more than we need them.
3
@DC
And yet virtually every consumer item and consumable you own comes from Asia or Latin America. Check your cabinets and closets. We need them.
On virtually every issue, Mr. Trump is informed by a feckless incompetence that typically results in failure. His century old mercantilistic approach to trade is no different, and has proven outdated and no longer viable in today's global economy. Mr. Trump appears to think that negotiating one-on-one trade with other countries is something akin to a mano-a-mano struggle, which he falsely projects as a validation of his personal strength. Accurate or not, this is part of the stagecraft he uses in managing his "image" with his true believers.
As regards using tariffs against Mexico as leverage against immigration, once again, Mr. Trump has engaged in a viscerally driven "ready, fire, aim" activity, not remotely grounded in a consistent, measured manner. Our trading partners are taking notice and will be looking for other markets, perhaps permanently.
4
Trump expects to reduce the number of people trying to get into the US by increasing what they pay for US goods. Someone please explain to me how further impoverishing our neighbors to the south reduces their desire to come here.
175
@Jeff Trump has a world view that I've seen present in many low information Americans in that they think they can use their economic clout to bully the world with no concequemces. the world doesn't work like that, it may win the US a few victories but it'll rapidly destroy America's influence
30
@Brian
American influence is a thing of the past as of now.
19
@Jeff
Trump expects to reduce the number of people trying to get into the US by increasing what WE pay for FOREIGN goods.
That is a more accurate description of what Tax and Spend Trump is trying to do.
19
Why does any president have unlimited power to impose tariffs by fiat at any time, for any reason, and on whatever terms he chooses?
Why isn't any Congressional review needed for something with such impact on our nation and the world economy?
7
@Naomi
He doesn't. It's congress's job. It's right there in the Constitution. But they are letting him do it. They did give away some of their power in granting the president emergency power. But it was never intended to be used as Trump does.
1
Tomorrow, on the first day of hurricane season, Trump will announce a new round of tariffs. "It's terrible what those Caribbean nations are doing! They're letting very dangerous hurricanes through. And they aim right for Florida. I'm not going to sit by and watch my golf courses get hammered. I'm slapping tariffs on EVERY hurricane until this nonsense stops!"
6
This may be why celery has gone up to nearly $4 at my local grocery store.
2
President Trump is the monkey hitting a button to get another peanut. He can't work with others, so the answer to every issue is just about the only thing he alone can do - hit the trade button.
4
The pattern of a narcissist w/power is predictable. They will continue to escalate their bad behavior, to push boundaries, to see just how far and to what extent they can get away with bad behavior. Think "terrible" 2 year old. dt will continue and continue and continue to escalate his bad behavior until those people who taxpayers have elected (and pay) issue consequence for his behavior. I realize Pelosi is concerned about impeachment impact on 2020 elections. Then escalate the trajectory of Congressional investigations on this despot. Allowing a dictator to continue to run rampant could have much more serious, dire consequences.
3
May is the worst month for stocks in 10 years. Show us how to run the economy with tariffs Mr. Trump!
6
Frankly I say go ahead Mr. Trump. Tariff's are a tax on consumers, as any economist will tell you. These tariff's could raise the price of gas, hit agricultural producers and cause problems with the financial markets. These would all impact me. However, I'm willing to suffer some financial pain if it sends a message to Americans they need to vote this fool out of office, and anyone who is supporting him. The price would be worth the reward at this point.
6
@dairyfarmersdaughter Well said! This is exactly what my wife tell me every day of the Trump presidency.
The stable genius doesn't understand tariffs or anything else he needs to be able to comprehend as he squats in the Oval Office playing President of the United States.
8
Always the stick. Never the carrot.
5
Trump, the ersatz president.
How stupid can a man be? This stupid:
"In response to widespread concern over the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) under the Trump administration, the Mexican agricultural sector is promoting an unfamiliar message: reduce ties to U.S. agriculture and look for new trading partners. Citing indications of a possible 20 percent import tax, Mexican Senator Armando Rios Piter has introduced a bill to replace corn imports from the U.S. with those from Brazil and Argentina. [https://foodtank.com/news/2017/03/u-s-farmers-fear-shift-mexican-corn-imports/]"
AND THIS STUPID:
"Mexico is by far the largest buyer of U.S. corn, accounting for over 25 percent of annual U.S. corn exports, totaling US$2.5 billion in the 2015–2016 year. Losing a major buyer could push down corn prices nationwide, particularly affecting farm incomes in areas like the Midwest, which have mainly specialized in corn production. "[Same Source]
OTOH, Americans will be "winning" with cheap corn flakes. Dang! How I love WINNING! (One man is blowing up the US economy, sector by sector.)
5
Blacksmith...hammer
4
Whatever happened to the hubris of 'only I' can solve this problem and the outright lie that Mexico was going to pay for his stupid, stupid 'wall'? Those of us, such as I, who are down toward the bottom of the income pyramid (oh, my God! what if he decides he needs to rival Cheops!), are being badly hurt by all his 'tariffs' and waste. Our roads and bridges are failing, we desperately need mass transit for the future including railroads, and for those of us or our families who are suffering from the constant 'disasters' with no help, what are we suppose to do? Paper towels are worthless and further deplete the environment. Why, oh why, cannot Congress act and Trumps minions wake up. Neither China nor Russia will help us as we did Europe after both World Wars.
4
he still thinks hes building the Taj in AC.
5
Simple prescriptions for a simple mind . . . ps
5
I wish Mexico would legalize all drugs. Cut the legs out
from under the cartels.
1
Once again, a dumb move! No research needed, just impose it. It's his thing!
1
Everyday in every way, this person in the White House continues to amaze me with his incompetence.
7
It is not at all certain that Trump understands that tariffs are taxes and are paid by the buyers of the product, not the seller. He's been told, he's had it explained (presumably with pictures of some kind), but because he does not understand what is being said, he does not believe it. In much the same way, he doesn't seem convinced that the states of Arizona and New Mexico are part of the Union (since 1912!), that people seeking asylum are entering the US legally, or that he is subject either to the provisions of the Constitution or the rule of law. This demonstrable reliance on unsystematic 'belief' rather than fact doubtless explains how he managed to bankrupt a gambling casino. In any case, it will all come as a great surprise when the tide does not stop, when the Constitution is employed and when John Law will not be sent away by his minions. The jig is nearly up however. The knocking at the front door is getting louder....
3
Unless Trump does something drastically good to improve his legacy, I suspect history will judge him rather unkindly. Does he rank with the all-time worst US presidents?
Franklin Pierce openly opposed abolitionist movement, actively supporting the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which effectively expanded slavery into new territory, undercutting the balance which was sought by Missouri compromise.
Buchanan (Pierce's successor) did nothing to prevent the Civil war.
Harding, best known for involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal (arguably much bigger scandal than Watergate). Yet his real flaw was that he was not a real leader. He had no vision, was short on action, or even real opinions.
Is Trump notably better, similar to, or worse than these three (not to mention others such as Nixon, who actually had some redeeming actions)? Time will tell.
He's clearly not doing his legacy any favors so far...
2
If Trump is blustering to get Mexican President Obrador to the negotiating table, as he did with Kim Jong-Un, this might make sense. But if this ends like the China negotiations, risking economic growth, now for political objectives, then Trump is behaving like a tinpot dictator, surrounded by sycophants, running a rogue superpower. Corporate America put up with Trump’s economic nationalism because he was good for their bottom line, and might even have favored him in 2020 over Sanders or Warren who threaten them with taxes. Trump has chosen his loyal base over every other sector of the population—not only minorities and women but Wall Street, the auto and electrons industries, consumers, everyone.
4
One can never tell for sure whether Trump is just naive in matters of trade, policy, government, geopolitics, etc., or whether he's just engaged in a series of distractions from that naivete, incompetence, ethical conflicts and possible criminal activity.
3
Trump has ruined the Departments of Education, Defense Interior, EPA, Justice, the White House, the U.S. Senate, the Supreme Court and the electoral process. He has divided MLB with 1/2 of the Red Sox showing up, the NFL draft, and the National Anthem. He has ruined U.S. currency with the Harriot Tubman controversy. He believes President Obama as not a citizen and MCCain was not a hero. He loves every dictator in the world except Maduro in Venezuela. Nothing surprises me anymore.
4
"....tariffs are a very crude tool". that actually explains a lot.
1
How disingenuous of the Editorial Board to suggest that tariffs are the President's preferred method of negotiation. Why not be fair and discuss how the President has been asking Congress to act, tried to negotiate with Schumer and Pelosi( who never really wanted to negotiate), has tried to negotiate with Mexico's government and because of the failure of these politicians, Congressmen and Mexican government to come through, he is resorting to tariffs as an option. Not that tariffs are the terrible idea that the Times wants to make it seem to be. The tariffs are changing the ways companies do business and this is good for our economy in the long term. Nice try NYT, but we are not falling for the continued criticism of President Trump's tariff's approach.
If Americans can not stop these asylum seekers with cruelly enhanced border policies, helped by the military, how do we expect Mexico to do a better job? Apparently Trump has conceded defeat on his border policy and now is forcing others to do his bidding. Where is the great deal maker!?
2
Mr. Trump only likes unchecked
Presidential powers such as tariffs and pardons and treaty abrogations.
2
People continue to indicate that Trump's actions are a reflection of his ignorance. That assumes that he woul do the right thing on behalf of America if he were better informed.
I would argue that Trump sees tariffs as something akin to how a kid sees free candy in the candy shop. He understands that his power enables him to impose a tariff on the basis of some dubious purpose, selectively collect billions in revenue from his enemies while skipping over enforcement of friends (due to limited tax collection resources), ignore/bypass congress, and pass the gains on to his family and followers.
Trump is wielding the powers of the presidency to loot the wealth of America.
1
Diplomacy is not working, politics is not working, time to try an economic policy. What ....would you prefer to send in the American military into Mexico or Central America to stop the illegal migration ? At least President Trump is trying to do something because the left surely has no ideas. The migration rush is getting way out of hand.
Where is the UN to try and speak up for the poor of Mexico and Central America. Why isn't the UN speaking out against the dictatorships and full blown corruption ?
He couldn't run a business so how can he know how to run a country. If the US follows his know path in business we will be bankrupt. Of course, being the liar and cheat he is, he will try to renegotiate a deal after the fact to pretend that we don't really owe any money. He has been making and breaking deals for the last two years. I have no idea why other countries are willing to deal with us.
5
In a nutshell, if I have this right, Trump is shooting himself, Mexico and me in the foot again.
4
Once again, he's walking into his rallies wearing a suit he had manufactured in his sweatshops overseas, shouts out some xenophobic remark that brings him a standing overation, and then tells them that Mexico will pay for the tariffs.
He can probably sell his remaining loyalists a roll of 100 pennies for $5.
Twice.
The same roll.
6
When the only tool in the box is a hammer.....
3
Tariffs are one tool that does not require Trump to engage with Congress. One Trump declared a "national emergency" at the border, he can act unilaterally. It's the ease of unilateral action (and unwillingness to do the hard work of negotiation and compromise with the US Congress) that defines Trump's tariff weapon of choice. The short-term nature of his tariff decisions have roiled markets - and suggest the absence of long-term strategic direction. In this era of increasing globalization, we are hurting our own economic interests.
2
Is it at all conceivable that these statements on Twitter are designed to plant some seeds of uncertainty in the minds of foreign countries with which the US has some outstanding issues?
2
I’m sure all of the economists who have been wrong about everything for the past two decades will make a lot of money writing books and articles about how tariffs will ruin our economy.
Please list all the economists who have been wrong all these years as well as all the books and articles they’ve written showing how wrong they were and finally list the economists who got things right and show the writing that shows they were right.
1
@Andrew Wohl
Tom Friedman and Paul Krugman to start. But I’m sure you already knew that.
Is it possible to find another word the same as tariffs like "added cost" or added tax? Maybe the Trump voters don't know exactly what tariffs mean for the United States consumers. Maybe Trump doesn't know either how his tariffs will disrupt his GDP.
I believe this is all fakery in order to distract from what Muller said this week. Muller could not confirm that Trump didn't break the law and that in fact, the Russians interfered in the 2016 elections in order to get Trump elected.
It is amazing that the White House has an occupant who really does not care what his actions will do to millions of people so long as he can benefit in some way. I'm embarrased for our country.
4
Trump has taken a wrecking ball to our export market, and we don’t know that it’s going to recover once he leaves.
However, Russian farmers couldn't be happier, now that they are the ones exporting pork, soy, corn to China instead of us.
Trump is now hurting people who import goods. Businesses in need of a part in order to complete manufacture or repair will be the ones paying the tariffs, and then they will have to raise their prices in order to stay solvent.
That’s the way businesses are run.
Trump isn’t actually that good at running a business – he’s actually lost a lot of the money that he inherited from his daddums.
And he doesn’t know how to run a country.
But he sure knows how to bankrupt one.
3
The bill should be footed by Trump voters. Of course, they will be stunned, and wonder what the bill means, because their make-believe president has told them that tariffs are daggers at the heart of other countries.
They are not. They are equivalent to taxes levied by the US government on American businesses and consumers. A pound of steel is still a pound of steel everywhere, cost-wide, except in the US, where, if a tariff applies, we are paying the equivalent of a surcharge to do business or to buy something.
And that surcharge is basically a tax on trade.
2
When you're a hammer, all problems look like nails. Trump's a hammer. He is going to bang away until he breaks it.
1
Call it what it is:
The Art of No Deal
There isn’t any way to negotiate with someone who won’t compromise.
The USA has lost credibility with its (soon to be former) allies and trading partners.
These tariffs will hurt a lot more countries than Mexico. Japan, China, and even US companies as well as US citizens will suffer from less business and higher prices.
If remedial action isn’t taken soon, there will be a new world order and we’ll be on the outside.
2
I hate to be suspicious, but I wonder if Trump is using these tariff announcements to play the market and buy and sell shares to enrich himself? With any other president this would not even cross my mind, but with this president, could this be a possible motivation?
5
The media need to start referring to these "tariffs" as "taxes". By using the trade terminology, Trump and the Republicans are being let off the hook for raising taxes on consumer goods, after spending the past twenty five years treating taxation as not only a business killing burden, but a uniquely Democratic concept.
5
Somebody wake me up from this nightmare. We’re being led into the Middle Ages by a complete ignoramos enabled by the Republican Party . . . 2020 can’t come fast enough
8
The way Trump strategizes, he must gotten a kick out the old joke about a woman who goes in her bathroom to find an elephant in her bathtub. When she asks the elephant why, he replies, "No soap. Radio!"
1
for a person ( incidentally in WH ) who can retract any comment in less than 5 mins its extremely slippery to judge anything!
Only we bear to consequences of electing such a a person to represent us!
2
Is the concept of abuse of authority still a thing? Tariffic Man is putting on quite a show -- of ignorance. The House of Representatives needs to get the impeachment show on the road. The Trump show can only be cancelled by Republicans. But Democrats must offer them the opportunity.
1
Singlehandedly Trump is weakening America. “Making America Great Again” will result in “Making America Look Foolish” for years to come.
2
Ask yourself, Where is our country going to get the money to pay for the support of the illegal Immigrants coming here?. Food, Housing, Medical, Relocation. It's sad that Immigrants get more than some veterans, but the truth.
I dunno? Maybe if they rescind the giant tax break given to the rich!
Mr. Trump has reached the point where he has no idea what he is doing. There is a growing desperation to Trump's actions this past week, and he is now flailing to try to divert public attention from the Mueller Report, his failed and often cruel policies, and his staggering incompetence and mental unfitness for the job of president. And he and the GOP are counting on us re-electing him for 4 more years in 2020??
Trump is a bloviating, stumbling, nasty embarrassment to our once great country that still has so much potential, but sadly is being trashed and blocked at every turn by Trump, his self-serving inept and corrupt administration, the backward marching GOP, and a hate-filled right-wing media that props up Trump and his insatiable ego.
Lest we lose track of what political leadership is, I just finished watching Angela Merkel's graduation speech at Harvard. She never mentioned Trump's name, but her rebuke of Trump and his politics was clear and was not missed by the audience--her references to walls at the beginning and end to her speech, her admonition "not to describe lies as truth and truth as lies," and her challenge to "tear down walls of ignorance and narrow-mindedness, for nothing has to stay as it is."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ofED6BInFs
2
Captain Queeg and Cadet Bone Spurs have stuck again. I'm counting on DJT to find the missing strawberries
3
Yet another bird-brained instant "solution." I marvel that there are any Republicans left who can earnestly keep from laughing at the sheer stupidity of Trump's wheeler-dealer Mexico tariff ideas. Is any Republican willing to explain the extrapolated end result of the newest tariff threat? Who's ultimately going to pay - "bigly" - for Trump's new gambit? The little guy, of course. Will Mexico "suffer" much? No, not really.
I sure hope Sarah Huckabee Sanders has to pay a lot more for her guacamole this summer !
Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
So, Trump is going to tax Americans for Mexican avocados and tomatoes. Americans will stop buying same produce. Or not.
If the former, so be it. If the latter, Mexico will sell its avocados and tomatoes elsewhere.
Or - and this is the most entertaining - Americans will produce more tomatoes, and maybe even avocados, only to have them rot on the vine when growers can't find the people to pick them.
My head is spinning from the sheer idiocy.
2
O.k, Trump is showing more of his low IQ boy wonder stunt abilities. Why are we punishing our farmers for illegal immigration? Why are we punishing our already overwhelmed car industry and the American consumer. "Naked Economics" rephrased, says that free trade is always beneficial to all countries, but trade becomes a political football, which it has in this instance, and all countries suffer. This is a big over-reach again of our ignorant President, who is determined to destroy and bankrupt American industry, just as he does with all his private businesses. I say it is time to say to President Trump, "You're fired".
2
5% on June 10? Maybe. Maybe 10%. Maybe 2%. Maybe 20% with exemptions for anything related to Ivanka or his cronies. Maybe nothing.
There are fools that can be taken at their (foolish) word. But not this fool. I will all depend on how some House committee hearing went, or what he had for breakfast, or whether someone said something nice about Obama or McCain.
There is less and less method. Only madness.
2
Getting Mexico to put out an army to stop thousands of migrants from Central America from using it as a highway to the porous U.S. border and entry here is a hapless enterprise. Mexico is neither able nor willing to do it. Ridiculous tariffs -- paid for mostly by our companies and consumers -- won't change that picture. What a botch of a bad idea!
1
U.S. CONST., art. 1, § 8, cl. 1. of the Constitution says:
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”
Trump has no power to increase tariffs. Only Congress does. Congress may not delegate its power to the other branches.
Congress may constitutionally permit officials in the Executive Branch to make some
policy decisions. But there is a point beyond which the Executive Branch’s delegated authority may not constitutionally go. The Constitution requires that Congress “lay down by legislative act an intelligible principle to which the person or body authorized to [exercise the delegated authority] is directed to conform . . . .” Mistretta v.
United States, 488 U.S. 361, 372 (1989) (alteration in original) (quoting J.W. Hampton, 276 U.S.
at 409).
Congress has not prescribed intelligible principles for either Trump's actions against China or his threatened actions against Mexico, nor has it prescribed any other protections against presidential
misuse of its powers that will assure that the President complies with the law and that principles
of separation of powers are preserved, as required by the Supreme Court in J.W. Hampton, Jr., & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394, 409 (1928).
@John Tollefson
Thanks for answering the question I posed a few osts down...
I have a stupid question.
Where( specifically) in the Constitution/Bill of Rights does Mr. Trump have the unilateral decision to impose tariffs?
Does Congress have any say over these decisions? Can they block said decisions with votes? We hear comments from Congress yea or nay, but do they actually have any power to override decisions like this made by presidents? And is it only the Senate that can do this ( problems, problems) or does the House have any say?
We are apparently paying for the FARM SUBSIDIES...he is running the country into the ground as he did as a "businessman." This is what the other side elected...a con man buffoon.
1
Trump likes tarrifs because as president, he doesn't have to get anyone else to approve them. He can do them himself and sign a silly book about it in front of the cameras. Added bonus: his supporters are too dumb to know that they are the ones paying the bills.
Trump gave $2 trillion in tax breaks to his rich friends, and now is raising taxes on us all with no benefit to the economy whatsoever. It's a perfect alignment of republican ideas .
1
Tariffs have become Trump’s E.D. drug of choice. In the face of his complete impotence to accomplish his most cherished goals, to build the wall, stop illegal immigration, end the Russian hoax witch-hunt, etc., at least another tariff allows him to do something, all by himself. It’s petulant, and pathetic.
1
Is he losing money ?
This is about Mueller.
3
Our stable genius president will drive the US, and much of the world, into a recession by the time his term is over, and then, as it has been for the past century whenever Republicans line their pockets at the expense of the middle class, a Democratic administration will have to clean up the mess.
1
Trump simply does not have attention span to do anything except unilateral action. The "punishing" effects of these tariffs are so indirect, they are more like a wet noodle than a cudgel. Mexico loses sales due to higher prices in the US (and US consumers pay those higher prices directly). That is only a problem if they cannot find new markets. If they do find markets, there is little effect on the Mexican economy. Peter Navarro was saying today that the Mexican government will feel the effect of tariffs due to lower tax revenue. But how much is that likely to be? And again, the tax effects of tariffs go away if Mexican exporters find new markets.
The real value of tariffs to Trump is that he can have another brainstorm, pick up the phone and get it done with a single phone call. And then Trump paints himself a bold, decisive leader, when really he is lazy and easily distracted. Hardly strategic in anything at any time. You watch, at some point, information used to measure the effectiveness of tariffs will suddenly be made unavailable.
The whole thing is just so lame.
2
From the column: "Tariffs, however, are a very crude tool."
When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail...
Trump is a broken record when it comes to solving problems, even problems he creates -- bash, brash, lie, deny, then declare you've solved it, repeat it, broadcast it on Fox, reverberate in the GOP echo chamber, and boom, it's rally cheer.
This one will be 'easy' for Trump to win since he and his administration have not defined what Mexico has to do to get the tariff lifted, so he'll just bluster for a while, maybe let the tariff kick up to 15%, then declare Mexico caved, victory for Trump, 40% of US voters buy it, Hannity trumpets, Lindsey Graham gushes...
Meanwhile, at the border, crossing continue in the same numbers as have been happening... of course, due to the seasonality of migrant crossings, there will be lull in the numbers that will play to Trumps lies -- this will be the "Victory" for Trump.
I keep hoping some of the GOP congress, and some of MAGA people would catch on to Trump act, but, alas, they never seem to tire of it.
1
I am not a trade attorney, but while there is some sort of national security exception involved, I imagine Trump's random approach on tariffs (today they are needed in Mexico ... yesterday, he wants a big, beautiful newish NAFTA ... China is bad ... so is Germany when Merkel makes me look silly ... look-out-for-new-tariffs-oh-I-was-just-kidding ... hey, a shiny object) is illegal.
He's usurping Congressional law-making power, but Democrats seem to have no interest in making this point or doing anything about it.
Really, if we wanted to contain China, we could have ratified TPP. But that's an Obama project, so we certainly can't do that ...
... so it goes.
So, let me get this straight: when Trump cuts taxes he's wrong, and when Trump adds new taxes, he's still wrong?
Come on guys.
We don't yet know whether the tariffs will work, but the goal of decreasing illegal immigration (and freeing up those funds to improve legal immigration) is a laudable one.
Not every move he makes deserves the kind of immediate, aggressive and often pejorative lambasting he inevitably receives from NYT readers.
1
@Chris C....."Trump cuts taxes he's wrong"...Yes and on two counts. First, most of the tax cut went to corporations thereby benefitting CEOs and stock holders. Second he did not bother to pay for the tax cut and as a result the budget deficit has exploded to a $ trillion dollars this year.
"Trump adds new taxes, he's still wrong?"....Yes. Tariffs are a tax paid by consumers, hitting the lower and middle class the hardest; thus exacerbating the economic disparity between rich and poor.
And remember when Obama left the White House illegal immigration was at a 40 year low and there were no caravans of asylum seekers crossing Mexico. The border crisis was created by Trump and the abusive language he has directed toward Mexico.
1
There are two ways to handle the migration problem: the humane way and the brutal way. As expected, in the moral struggle between gently helping others and brutish selfishness --the Republicans, led by their narcissistic leader --have embraced brutality. They plan to bully others to follow their "America first and America only" predilection ; it doesn't work. Mexico will not build the wall. China will not meekly submit to tariffs. Only the cowardly and self-centered enablers in the Senate, the McConnells and Grahams, will value their private prosperity above the general welfare. The world will not readily kowtow to our purveyor of fantasy and falsehoods.
The better way to mitigate the migration influx is to alleviate the hardships these refugees now encounter in their homelands. They would much rather survive and do reasonably well in the countries of their birth than tempt death by marching across inhospitable terrain often succumbing to thirst , dragging their children, away from home. If we could have an economic assistance plan--something like what Kushner plans for the West Bank (where his plan and expenditures will not work) or like the Marshall Plan after WWII for the devastated countries of Europe--we might be able to stem the increasing tide of new arrivals to our shores.
1
When all that you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
1
Two things to take to the bank:
1. After Trump is out of office, FOX will completely forget about him and blame everything that happened during his term (s) on Democrats.
2. Trump voters will blame the Democrats for nominating a candidate in 2016 (and possibly 2020) who couldn't beat him (to save the country from the GOP).
I have a friend who still blames the Iraq war on Democrats, because although most voted against the war, not enough did to prevent the GOP from ramrodding this war through congress.
And, it's not uncommon to run across GOP voters who blame the great recession on Obama, even though it started before he was even president.
With FOX and other conservative outlets lying to their viewers and omitting key facts, the country has become ungovernable. It's become a great place for the dishonest, rich, and white to rob the average person blind. Disgusting.
3
Trump’s ad hoc approach to all policies ignores the complexity of the modern world. His incompetence is more of a problem than his dishonesty.
Call it what it is: a tax. Mexico is not paying the tariff, we are.
He is not hitting Mexico with a tariff, he is taxing us. Why don't you call it what it is? It is The TRUMP TAX!
1
Tariffs. Again. How are those great negotiating skills working for you, Mr. Trump?
1
Me. Trumps strategy is to threaten and punish his neighbours in hopes that he can bully them to coalesce with his plans. He has no finesse. No sense of diplomacy. No respect for his neighbours and allies. What a crude man Americans have elected to represent them. It will take years to restore the trust and goodwill between the USA and the countries he has insulted. That is, if there’s any good will left by the time this petulant man child leaves office. Sad.
2
Your comment that previous administrations sought accommodation with Mexico is why the problem is worse today. Raegan caved in 86 so why would Mexico expect any less today.
Think hammer and nails. It's a panacea.
"Mr. Trump might succeed in pressuring Mexico to take stronger steps on immigration. Tariffs, however, are a very crude tool."
Exactly. They are tools that someone unscrupulous (like, say, Boss Tweed) would use, to deal with with a political problem which they have no legal or political remedy for (or at least, none of which are palatable to them). Not a tool that a president typically uses, to pressure another government to do something, especially something completely unrelated to the tariffs themselves.
And interestingly, it is clear that there is no plan, and no one in the administration, including acting chief of staff Mulvaney, has a clue how this policy is even supposed to work.
And coming as it does on the heels of Mueller's devastating public statement on Wednesday, this looks increasingly like a desperate, flailing attempt to distract.
The fact that markets suffer, and Americans pay more, . .
Ehhh.
1
United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 1, first clause:
"The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises"
Tariffs are an Article I power of Congress, not the Executive branch. Every time Trump (or any President) asserts a tariff not legislated by Congress, he shows his contempt for this co-equal branch of government. Every time Congress lets him (or any President) do this, they are acquiescing to this unconstitutional power grab. To the detriment of our economy (definitely my 401K) and our relations with friends and foes abroad.
Enough already. Congress must revise the emergency powers that Trump is exploiting to illegally usurp their authority, and take this power back to themselves. And every President after him.
Trump is not the first President to abuse this power. But he is certainly providing a “reductio ad absurdum” argument for ending it. One would think that even his sycophants in Congress would agree.
2
Any measure which appears to punish foreigners is immensely popular with his base. I dont think he does the homework much further than that. In the case of China, there is the bonus of crippling a competitor, without having to produce better and. affordable products. He does not seem to comprehend , or acknowledge that customs duties are paid by the US customer.
Presidents sometimes ask the public to endure sacrifice and hardship for the greater good. But don't treat us like we haven't got a clue about how economics works.
1
Not all tariffs are bad. Not all immigration curtailments are bad. It is easy to take sides on party lines. Some disruption to the flight of manufacturing through Tariff is not all that bad. Some interruption to poverty immigration is also not bad.
There will never be an ideal solution to either of these issues.
We need some manufacturing in order to inspire innovation. Not all design can happen in thin air without people seeing the manufacturing process. Whether it is robotic or manual this country needs a lot more manufacturing to inspire the next generation for new innovations.
Solutions to crime problems in central American countries could come sooner if the problems become more acute. Easy immigration to the US will keep the problems lingering for much longer and the actual casualty would be much higher.
So welcome the magic of Tariff. It is not that bad.
People don't seem to realize that 70% of vegetables and 40% of fruits we east are imported from Mexico. It's our voracious demand anything we want, in any season and at prices we're willing to accept.
It isn't just avocados. It's nearly everything you eat. The worst part is that it will hit low-income people the worst. You might not mind if your personal food bill goes up, which it will.
Where I live in lefty Portland, I eat with the seasons and buy from local farmers markets. But not everyone has that option and not everyone can afford to do that. But I'll wager that the biggest supporters of Trump's tariffs aren't supporting their local farmers markets even if they can.
People who say tariffs will encourage locally grown food. That's great, but do you know which farmers are enjoying federal subsidies? It's not the folks growing cabbage and tomatoes and artichokes. It's industrial farms growing commodity crops that goes into processed food. It takes shoppers willing to pay for the cost of locally grown food and most Americans simply won't do that, unfortunately.
1
Wow! Another wonderful tax deal for Americans, this, just an add-on to that other one we had from his Administration!
I'm so grateful that our president knows how to deal so effectively with complex issues thereby allowing us to "Make America Great Again."
We're racking up the hundreds of reasons now for that crucial move by the citizens of this nation who wish to restore some sense of normalcy to this country: casting your vote in November 2020...PLEASE!
1
Someday when American stops getting their news from Twitter they will probably understand that Tariffs is another word for sales tax, except it comes pre-added to the price of the product you purchase.
Then maybe they will react to the idea of Tariffs not based on their political affiliation, but rather based on the fact that you still will buy Avocado from Mexico, but because of Tariffs it cost you more.
2
Don Trump's Tariff Consumption taxes on American's is deeper than immigration from Mexico and economic protection. It's a criminal racketeering Conspiracy by the Trump Wall st administration and Congressional Republicans to defraud all American middle and lower class citizens to move their meager wealth on to the Wealthy of the nation.
It started a couple of years ago when the idea of Tariffs came up as a means of incentivising the return of American Manufacturing from foreign lands. The idea took the national stage when Republican Speaker Ryan publicly touted instituting "Duties" on all imports. Those "Duties" were quickly condemned as a Consumer tax and the idea was abandoned.
Then came Trump and the Art of the deceptive name change.
Trump saw a quick buck and a way to offset the shift of wealth to the rich; He renamed those "Duties"; "Tariffs".
Consider the Chronology; Republicans were planning on the shift of wealth and proposed the "Duties" Tax. Then the Republican Congress and the Trump Wall st Administration passed sweeping Tax giveaways to the wealthy. Those tax cuts increased the budget deficit by 150 Billion a year. Now Trump is offsetting the Deficit with Tariff Consumer Consumption Taxes Now close to 137 Billion Dollars.
The Republican party is pillaging the nation. Use R.I.C.O.
4
Looks like Trump's version of "If you don't do what I want I'll hold my breath until I turn blue!" Except he won't be the one turning blue - the US economy will. And as always, he won't pay a political price in a land full of citizens eager to reward chicanery and punish virtue.
If tariffs are a tax, they are a regressive tax: they will affect the poor and middle class much more severely than they will affect the upper classes. Again and again we see policies from this administration that do exactly the opposite of what was promised: they exacerbate the wealth gap.
3
More proof that the value of Wharton business degree has been highly overrated.
12
@Rick.....I haven't seen his degree certificate, though I understand he threatened to sue if they released his grades.
Trump only attended Wharton. He does not have a degree from Wharton.
1
He views tariffs as a diversionary tactic from news he wants to avoid. It seems to work quite well, problem is , it’s going to sink the global economy. I hope McConnell and Graham are happy, at least they can still control women’s bodies.
8
Nationalism. The worldwide rise of authoritarianism. The focus on immigration. All of it stems from globalization of the world’s economy, and yet rarely is it mentioned.
2
The world is changing. The post-WWII world order is under attack. This is not a good time to own a yellow taxi medallion. Trump is the great disrupter. He's Uber.
How it all plays out is anyone's guess.
According to AOC the world is going to end in 12 years if we don't get rid of the cars, the trucks, the planes, the air-conditioning units, and the hamburgers.
The fact that she is still flying to see her abuela in Puerto Rico is not a good sign. AOC refuses to change her lifestyle. If AOC isn't going to change, who is?
2
That’s not what AOC said at all, but trumpinistas have their own way of deciphering text.
@Laura
'The world is going to end in 12 years if we don't address climate change, and your biggest issue is how are we gonna pay for it?' " she said.
1
This editorial attempts to argue that Trump’s tariffs don’t hurt Mexico, they hurt Americans ... but Mexico’s likely retaliatory tariffs also only hurt Americans? This is intellectually dishonest.
The truth, which is being ignored here, is that tariffs on Mexican goods harm Mexican exports, on which Mexico is dependent. The other truth is that Mexico has done nothing to impede the mass migration from Central America, and has in many ways actually facilitated it.
2
@Jon
You can blame Mexico, but Mexico didn't promise to pay for the wall or end illegal immigration from Central America. Trump did that and he has failed. The new tariff policy will probably fail too. When it does, you have to decide whether you want Trump to continue to fail or elect someone else who may be able to succeed.
3
The actions of the USA over decades are directly responsible for mass migration from Central America. Mexico has nothing to do with it.
Agreed, Mexico most certainly did not agree to end illegal immigration. But yes, I do blame them, but I blame Democrats much more.
At every opportunity the Democrats have done their best to destroy our borders. Their solution to the problem of illegal immigration and mass migration is to simply declare that all migration is lawful and desirable.
I am a controls and systems engineer and a physicist. I attempt to look at things - including ideologies and economic systems through the lens of Nature and steady-state mathematics (what the results are in the long-run) and this has led me to be torn about a 2 fundamental dichotomies for 3+ decades.
The 1st is immediate vs. long-term needs and threats. This is the primary driver between almost all contentious issues between conservatives and liberals.
The 2nd is the what is in the best interests of the USA vs. what is in the best interests of our species.
In those 30+ years, I keep coming to the same conclusions: For the best interests of our species, liberal policies are best, but they are not in the best interests of the USA. This is because the best interests of one country - any country - means a bit of protectionism and security for the people of that country. Many of our policies - both GOP and DEM - have gotten us in the situation we are in and neither party was getting us out of it for the long term.
Trump - like him or not - disrupted the slow steady death that the status quo of the 2 parties was giving us. His actions are "blowing up" the world order. I don't know if that's good in the long run, but, in many ways, it is good in the short run for the USA. It's the real long-term survival issues that have me worried... yet, I think that may mean the end of the USA within 100 years.
3
@VJR
The United States is part of the world. If the world doesn't survive, neither will the United States.
Your binary us-or-them calculation is interesting. I'd like to explore policies that help the United States and the world at the same time.
3
@Andrew Zuckerman Bravo! I too am in favour of policies which promote fair and mutually beneficial trade, and which advance the welfare of all people. I also prefer policies which are not designed to starve people or blow them up , oriI nstsll governments of our choosing. I must be a freak.
1
@VJR
Your thinking is flawed in a fundamental way. There’s no such thing as a “best interest” for the USA. Decisions can only be made that are either in the “best interest” of all our citizens or not. Under Trump, that’s been perverted to the benefit of a tiny majority.
1
After Trump's Tariffs on Mexican exports to the U.S. collect $25-30 Billion, Trump will claim Mexico has paid for the border Wall Trump promised to build. Sadly Trump base probably have as little understanding of tariffs as Trump and they will believe him. Of course it will be American consumers paying those tariffs ....
11
The POTUS has the power to declare that there should be tariffs for national defense reasons: steel for tanks, aluminium or planes, etc., the rationale being a sense of urgency. Trump's use of tariffs has gone far beyond that. It is time for the Congress to re-claim their power over tariffs.
9
If we used the word tax instead of the word tariff, more people might understand what a tariff is and how it works.
2
It is not a tax if you don’t buy from a country with a tariff. My cars come from Sweden and Belgium, no tariffs. I don’t buy any food products from outside the US. My new washer was made in the USA.
@ rich, I guess a sales tax is not a tax either if you don’t buy anything. The level of stupidity in this country seems to grow exponentially with every day of the absurd administration.
Another example of Trump's 'expertise' at deal making. About the only deal he actually appeared to negotiate was the so-called NAFTA 2.0 but he now reneges on what he agreed to before the deal has actually been finalized anywhere neither in the US, Canada nor Mexico. According to Trump the so called border crisis existed before he became President. Why wasn't it made an issue of as part of the trade negotiations and settled then? Trump's negotiations 'secret' is to negotiate in bad faith.
I am sure his Kremlin handlers are very pleased at how he is taking a wrecking ball to all the Western economies to allegedly solve imaginary security crises. The Mexican Trade War is just the latest installment in that quest.
3
What if Trump is simply using tariffs or the threat of tariffs to manipulate the stock market?
5
@Leslie Logan
I've often wondered about that. Certainly, Wilbur Ross, our ethically-challenged Commerce Secretary, would be "all in."
Could the President at least win one trade war (consumer tax increase) before starting others. Just so he can demonstrate how it's done. He seems to think tariffs can fix all problems. Next up, tariffs against measles.
5
The feat is not complete. It is likely this is another tease to media to go ape over some screwy idea. Watch he'll get talked out of it. There will be delays, more headlines, warnings, etc. It will all distill to a reality show concept with a shelf life of one hour of prime time TV. By next week it will be some other wonderful, meaningless disaster with all watching it evaporate before the watching eye.
But as some comments suggest what is to be done other than real improvements in our infrastructure, real improvements in our species prospects via moves to nuclear power plants, and real improvements in our children health and education so our nation's longevity might reverse its downward trek and start ticking up again. All these being impossible for a biologically incompetent president, legislature, and citizens (and really the press too) nothing can be done -- that is constructive and requires real focus, real thought. We can't stop watching our own and other's reality shows -- DJT is one of best, IMO.
A migration on cable news and print too would give systems analysis like thoughts about all the issues, stakeholders, problems, ideas, proposed solutions for the real problems listed. Instead all zone out of the constructive zone and tune in see if something like the new Kim Kardashan or Ozzy will find their compact or comb or something.
2
Should we assume that the Wharton School of Business failed to include Economics 1.01 in its curriculum during Mr. Trump’s tenure? The better possibility, judging by his string of business failures and bankruptcies, is that he just slept through class.
8
It looks that Trump is going to solve the border crisis this time. The Mexicans are not highly motivated to get this done. Their motivation will increase periodically with the tariffs. In fact, they can do this very easily.
3
@smith... "In fact, they can do this very easily.'...Sort of like what they did when Obama was President, before Trump repeatedly insulted them.
Combine tariffs with immense tax cuts for the incredibly wealthy and you have Trumpian Utopia.
9
No, tariff is not miracle cure. But it will work this time. Mexicans don't like these migrants. They can easily solve this crisis by blocking these migrants from entering Mexico in the first place. There is no federal court there to tie their hands. But they consider the border crisis a US problem. Trump is motivating them to be nice to America.
3
I just want to thank the NYT for calling him Mr. Trump, at least in the headline. He is not entitled to and did not legitimately earn the title of President. He is a complete abomination and I doubt our democracy can recover from his reckless and short-sighted policies. As with the Washington Football Club, whose formal name has been dropped by some media, I wish everyone would cease using the honorable title of President of the United States in regard to him. Just write "Trump," we'll all know exactly who you mean.
7
For us, the "miracle cure" will be if we can get Trump out of the White House and the GOP out of power in both the House and Senate in 2020.
9
You are assuming it is inevitable that Mexico will do nothing. Mexico for decades has discouraged immigrants from Central America especially persecuted tribal people from their southern border from settling there and allowed just passage through. They were viewed as unwanted people.
2
@Nadine....So explain why it was that when Obama left office illegal immigration was at a 40 year low and there were no caravans of asylum seekers crossing Mexico.
1
What Does Mexico Export to the US?
Crude Oil .................$14 Billion.
Medical Instruments $12 Billion.
Fresh Vegetables .....$04.8 Billion (Avocados, Tomatoes)
Fresh Fruits .............$04.3 Billion.
so Americans will pay more for gas, healthcare, fruits, and vegetables
why does he not understand this as fact and still believes that the Mexican government somehow pays for it?
6
The NYTs is right. This is the clearest indication of Trump misrule. China has abused trade to the point where most people would agree that something needed to be done. Mexicans have gravitated to the US because US employers wanted the cheap labor. Now Trump in a one sided reckless misrepresentation of the situation on the border has gone off on a crazy over reaction. Senator Grassley stated that Trump has abused his presidential power to impose tariffs.
2
Trump has zero experience in government, and failed in most businesses. He has no interest in policy details or nuances. He doubles down when he encounters opposition, unless it's against a bigger bully.
Not surprising he repeatedly uses the one tool he can wield, without bothering to understand its real consequences.
3
Let's start calling Trump's "falsehoods" exactly what they are. They are lies and the media should refer to them as such.
2
He only has this "national emergency" hammer, so everything looks like a nail to him.
At least it's the only thing he can use on his own, nearly all the other tools are locked up in Congress' toolbox.
3
As part of his re-election campaign, Trump will claim that the tariff proceeds “from Mexico” pay for his wall.
2
Jersey City Casinos. Bankrupt. America Bankrupt?
5
A summit with our South American Neighbors and consultation with Congress on policy and aid to alleviate human suffering; trafficking, etc. would be a miraculous finale to the Trump Presidency, but he already declined the 2018 summit and has ignored the deaths and human rights abuses at the United States border.
2
Yes, we will all feel the pain, but Trump's base does not care and he knows it. He speaks to them alone, and they just hate immigrants, brown people, people who speak other languages or wear funny hats. I know a couple of people who regret their votes for Trump. But anyone who can vote for this president twice is just as bad as he is, and maybe even worse. They don't care how much pain Trump causes. They might even like it, the same way some people find joy in vandalism and destruction. Pain is the whole point.
4
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
1
Migration through Mexico naturally ticks off during the Summer months and will no doubt do so this year.
Which will allow Trump to claim that his tariffs are working, and of course gives him yet another opportunity to lie .
Meanwhile in the real world ie anywhere outside of Fox News and where what he calls 'My People reside. We have to endure the high cost of his tariffs. Such as the market crashing and skyrocketing inflation.
Will someone in Congress please wake up and impeach him already, you have to stop him tearing the place apart, like a drunken housewife on a Reality show.
Like the wall, Mexico ain't paying the regressive sales taxes aka tariffs, American people, YOU are!
3
"Mr. Trump might succeed in pressuring Mexico to take stronger steps on immigration. Tariffs, however, are a very crude tool."
It's not a "crude tool" it's just plain dumb. Or lazy. Or both.
It's amazing how much deflection is going on with immigration. How about actually trying to solve the problem instead of using lazy and dangerous deflection tactics? When the markets tank in a few months the GOP is going to be doing some deep reflection as voters finally figure out the con.
2
Dare to compare the voter psyche currently in the US with 1930s Germany. Both were economic and social change-induced identity crises mainly among (overwhelmed and disenfranchised) rural and male voters leading to aggressive self-centeredness around closest strengths and community, resulting in the picking of fights with everyone around.
At the time this ended in a physical fight with worldwide implications, this time such thing is no longer winnable, so the (democratically) elected head-fighter chose a trade fight.
If history is any guide, then all of this will lead to an anti-US trade alliance (mainly around Europe and Asia - see Belt and Road as well as the EU-Japan trade pact for beginners), ending with an economically weakened US and a new global world trade order imposed upon it, just like the post-war peace and international diplomatic order (lead by the UN and EU) was imposed on Germany.
Funny, we always think this time history will be different. The details might be different, human psyche though will inevitably run in similar patterns.
2
Tariffs aren’t only about foreign policy. It’s about tax increase to Americans buying foreign goods.
It seems Trump has found a way to manipulate the financial markets. He announces a tariff and the markets take a dive. He rescinds a tariff and the markets go up.
I'm betting that he will rescind a tariff close to the next election.
1
I have been wondering the same. “Surprise tariff announcement”. Really? A surprise to everyone? Is anybody looking for suspicious trading based on market manipulation? Oh wait.. the agency that would do that has one of his stooges in charge... never mind. What was I thinking???
As a Swiss citizen, that has no authority questioning political American political strategies, the behaviour of this so called President does more than puzzle me. How can anybody of sound mind support him.
5
This is incredulous that our President keeps insisting that China (or Mexico) will pay the tariff. A tariff is a tax, paid for by the importer and passed on to the end user or consumer. Get ready for some serious inflationary pain.
4
@James But jacking up property taxes, water and sewage rates, parking taxes, ... as Democrats are doing here is different?
A couple of decades back in time a notable media topic of discussion was the prediction that over time, the majority of Americans would be Hispanic. It isn't just Trump who hates. Many Americans are deeply protective of the White Power nation. To understand that short term history is to understand the underlying motivations for Conservative Republicans to take over the nation to such a great extent that they risk chaos.
3
Tariffs are easy. Trump doesn't have to persuade anyone else to do anything, so needs no facts, evidence, or sensible arguments. Congress has abdicated its responsibility to regulate foreign trade and Trump doesn't need the agreement of the foreign country. And Trump thinks he can tax the rest of us to compensate his base for the losses he causes.
3
Mr Trump is definitely unclear on who exactly pays tariffs, but then he's a stable genius who managed to lose over a billion dollars, so he's neither an economist or a business expert and we shouldn't really be surprised.
3
Since when has "effectiveness" been a determining factor for this Administration?
3
But Trump's most ardent supporters don't even know what is happening, instead believing he is "taxing" Mexico and China. The siloing of information keeps them largely uninformed. These are dark days..
5
@bowen
They will see the effect when they go to Walmart, but they will never make the connection between the cause and effect.
3
Trump seems to think the American consumer can pay ever-increasing tariffs. At some point, tariffs will lead to enough inflation we will see slowing in consumer spending. That might be just what the economy needs to finally decide to cool down and slip into recession mode. The Fed generally reacts to inflation with higher rates, which would not help matters. The blunt hatchet of tariffs that Trump has become fond of threatening our global trading partners with cuts both ways.
2
The real abuse of power is the refusal of Congress to exercise its constitutionally delegated powers. Apparently Congress has also handed over imposition of tarrifs to Executive fiat. We are encouraged to pretend that this was always a power inherent in the Executive.
Acts of Congress structure the Executive bureaucracy and powers. Congress has the power to restructure and defund the Executive. Spare us the excuses that Republicans control the Senate, etc. This has been a long term willful bipartisan abdication of constitutional power, and there can be no doubt that if the Democrats had the Senate majority, they would continue to find excuses to not act against Trump.
Congress is the real constitutional crisis. Not Trump, a personality who only illustrates its fundaments in bold relief.
1
@Matt
When you say "Congress" the problem is isolated to the Senate and their inability to exhibit a spine in all topics Trump related.
3
At this point, I've stopped buying American produce. I search for local, and then Mexican. American farmers need to learn that Trump is not on their side.
2
@LauraF
Might refine that boycott to specific American commodities, or corporate Ag. . Small farmers and most produce growers know Trump is not on their side. He has consistently harassed and demonized the workforce.
2
@sginvt
It's not possible for a Canadian shopper to determine who grew what.
No, I stick to my guns. No American produce.
It in his DNA. When ever anyone disagrees he sues. So now his attack is tariffs. The amazing thing is how our system is so unable to control him. Wars, Tariffs, environmental damage, ignoring congress etc. all done with no controls. We were all amazed that our system is so inefficient and weak. It took trump to show us.
8
Trump's action on tariffs make much more sense when viewed through the prism of his populist instincts. He is anti-globalization because he looks at trade at a zero sum game instead of a system which can benefit everyone (if designed and regulated carefully). The disruption of global supply chains is not an unfortunate by-product of his policies, it is the desired outcome.
4
One of the ideas behind tariffs is that the increase in cost of the foreign products, due to the tariffs, will cause consumers to look elsewhere, and the foreign manufacturers will lose their U.S. market, at least to some extent.
THIS IS WORKING and Americans could help out by buying American. You don't really need an iPhone produced in China (you don't really need a smart phone...a statistical fact: the higher your level of education, the less likely you are to own a smart phone). We don't NEED electronics produced by Huawei (Mr. Trump is correct in his skepticism, all Chinese companies are beholden to their government).
3
@Raz
The simple fact is that many people need smartphones because many employers require two-factor authentication for remote access.
1
Trump confuses tactical measures like tariffs for strategies that deal with commerce and trade in a comprehensive manner. Putting tariffs on goods that the US does not manufacture is the epitome of wrong headed. There is no active industry to meet the demand created by the tariffs in a quick and cost-effective way.
Get ready for price inflation on all manner of goods. And get ready for some financial pain at home. Because what are the chances that wages will actually catch up or surpass inflation? I, for one, am dubious that US companies are up to the challenge.
1
@Raz Buy American? There's no such thing any more. Though I can't argue the Chinese are duplicitous when it comes to IP. One look at their new tactical fighter plane--it looks a lot like our F22--and you know they're spying and stealing ip.
One of the saddest things here...the NY Times HOPE TARIFFS DON'T WORK. They're actively rooting against their country, just because they don't like someone, and we all know who. Tariffs are having more affect than the worn out old sanctions of the last administration.
2
@Raz Where are they working? What specific benefits have accrued to specific which industries and which jobs have been created? And to what extent has that been at the cost of foreign markets? Blanket (and false) claims are the strategy of we all know who.
4
@Raz, the only people who are benefitting from the tarrifs are farmers, who will be bailed out. The rest of us, not so much.
3
The sad truth is the ever-increasing reliance on tariffs as a weapon of foreign policy is harming the U.S. economy, both short- and long-term. If it drives us into a recession, the only questions are: (1) on who or what will Trump attempt to lay the blame; and (2) will the Trump die-hards swallow yet another lie?
5
@CS from Midwest I suggest the answers are (1) Foreigners and (2) Yes, without hesitation.
Trump approaches any problem in two ways: by calculating if the solution has a PERSONAL benefit and if he doesn't have to think too much about it.
In other words Trump believes that a destructive approach is much better that a win-win solution. He thinks that lies, arrogance and coercion are the essence of diplomacy and that, if he wants something here and now, the counterpart must give up unconditionally. Eventually for Trump any future complication and spin-off are irrelevant.
6
As ever, Trump is a predictable one-trick pony.
The artlessness of the deals.
417
Best comment, ever.
Sincerely and thank you.
21
@Andrew Quite - he seems to know how to break the hard-won deals made by his predecessors, but not how to make a deal. A weak and ineffective negotiator who doesn't know how to close a deal. Donny, "deal maker" is for closers.
31
@Andrew - Trump: simple solutions to complex problems. Easy!
Unfortunately none of his solutions work. NONE.
26
Only fools and charlatans have simple solutions to complex problems. Our neighbors to the south are plagued by incompetent and corrupt regimes and a history in many cases of U.S. interference supporting corrupt right wing politicians. Instead of promoting sustainable development in Central America and Mexico, Trump, who appears to have little or no knowledge of the history of the last few decades, sees only the effects and not the causes. Previous Republican and Democratic presidents were in favor of free trade. This man has alienated our European allies, expressed a closeness to the murderous dictator in North Korea and to Russia's Putin. He runs the government by tweets and executive orders, rather than passing proposals through Congress. We appear to be moving towards a dictatorship, which will be aided by a Senate run by McConnel and his associates, as they gradually pack the Supreme Court. Where indeed are the real patriots in the Congress, which is letting all of this happen? What about the obvious move towards yet another Middle Eastern war with Iran? Who is paying attention?
9
@John PaarYour comment should be required reading. Thank You
1
This mob-boss/president has a resilience against knowledge. Hitting Mexico with tariffs won't work for us, and it certainly won't hurt Mexico. But here's a suggestion, Mr. mob-boss, maybe you could try to help the situation without your toxic intentions. Or better yet, maybe we should fire you.
5
It appears we need to raise China's Tariffs even more. Make the pig squeal even loader. Thank you Mr. President!
@BO Krause Pig-headed and gullible. The squealing you hear will be the the US farmer - who Trump is trying to buy off with a $9 billion farm relief bill - (paid for by US tax-payers not China).
As long as the President keeps using strategies that he designed using a businessman's mind and not a political leader's mind he will continue to behave the way he was: an apprentice. One always behaves the way one is.
Unfortunately we end up paying for his foolish ideas.
4
He failed in business, so it all makes sense.
The US is heading into the toilet with trump’s failed policies! He has always lost other peoples money! He is clueless about economics and much else. 2020:can’t come quick enough!
4
Trump needs to be impeached. Plain and simple.
4
Tweeter in chief strikes again. There you have it: the all thumbs presidency. Hope those farmers are happy with how great America is becoming.
4
He doesn't really believe that tariffs are the solution to any of his foreign policy problems. He's doing this because he's figured out (or somebody told him) that his authorities as President include the ability to impose tariffs pursuant to "emergency" authorities or for other reasons that don't require him to justify what he's doing. To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and in the absence of any political skill or talent for true leadership, he thinks this is the only tool he has -- so he's smashing things up and threatening to do more unless he gets his way. It isn't working and it isn't ever going to work, but his ego is too fragile for him to admit that, so he'll go on doing it until somebody stops him. This is part of the price we pay for electing a knucklehead.
7
You lost me at “ exercise their legal right to seek asylum “ perhaps the editors at the NYT are living on another planet but they are not living in southwest or Arizona or Texas or New Mexico or Colorado or Nevada. Maybe they still think the western United States needs to be a populated as New York City. It left me scratching my head. I cannot stand trump or anything he says or does. This country notwithstanding being a beacon of freedom, is being invaded by all the massive tired poor oppressed and yes hungry peoples of the world. The gates are wide open and the editors of the New York Times seems to think that is a good thing. I for one respectfully disagree. My wife went to a graduation ceremony at NYU last Thursday. The majority of the grads were Chinese, then India and the percentage of white Americans was disproportionately small. How many of those grads will be returning to their homelands? Almost none.
1
@Critizenq Even if what you say were true, it makes no sense to try to solve a complicated foreign policy issue with a blunt and ineffective economic tool and hurt there US economy in the process, does it?
3
@Critizenq what are you even talking about? Are the graduates illegal immigrants ? They applied and they got accepted to the university. There not enough American students for all the university spots around the country. And admittance has always been open to students around the world.
@Critizenq
So they stay and become citizens. Is there a problem with that? Or is it their colour you object to?
Trump announces his new plans on tariffs on Thursday evening on Twitter, a day after the special counsel's speech, and on Friday morning, all references to the Mueller report and responses to it have magically vanished from the front-page of the New York Times. Wow!
7
Surely nobody can be as stupid as trump to believe that tariffs are the answer to everything? He's like a full water hose left unattended, wildly moving in erratic directions - all to deflect attention from the Mueller Report.
8
Dimwit, doesn't he ken that all this'll do is raise the price American's will have to pay for avocados?
3
When you only tool is a hammer, everything looks like Michaelangelo's Pieta.
4
Trump should not have such broad authority. Congress has obviously delegated too much authority to the president--ANY president.
6
10,000 unauthorized entries per month is a huge crisis. It is push and pull. The push is the poverty and overpopulation in Central America that is pushing people to migrate. The pull is the ease of migration to the world’s richest, most welcoming country that has virtually no barriers to entry and is pulling - encouraging migration to the US. Relatives already in the US are on the phone encouraging family members to come now, come before the wall goes up, come before the US changes its liberal asylum rules, come before Mexico stops easy transit, come before the the door is closed. Come now! The push is strong, the pull is strong. Poor countries are getting more overpopulated and rich countries are trying to close their doors. Overpopulation and climate change are forcing migration and we need to respond with compassion and pragmatism to both the push and pull factors.
2
@Scott L At least, what used to be the world's richest country. Tariffs, as pointed out in the OP ED, are a hammer. A crude mechanism that will punish the world's richest country's citizens. Last I checked, our shrinking middle class and third world infrastructure are not indicative of wealth. If you don't want people to emigrate here, change the laws, change the social benefits (though we have pitiful benefits for our citizens compared to other Western industrial nations) immigrants enjoy. Don't hammer away at the US economy, which is what this crude and uneducated man is doing.
1
"Foolproof"? If only. Trump is such a fool you cant get around him.
4
Near as I can tell, there is no actual agenda from this president. He is using tariffs because he can, without Congress, without the courts. Most of his other agenda is the same. Since being elected he has been poking at the system, seeing what he can do on his own, without any approval or interference from the other branches of government. Tariffs are just something he can do. Then, even though it isn't true, he can say, "see Mexico is paying for the wall."
9
Whoever talked Trump out of closing the Border needs to talk him out of this latest bad idea. His proposals only seem to be about imposing pain on people. The potential impact from this latest idea: higher prices on traded goods paid by consumers, destroying businesses along the border, trashing the reemerging middle classes in Mexico, more farmers in the US on welfare using funds collected from tariffs.
Does Trump have anything positive or useful to contribute to the conversation? to the world?
8
Not content with waging a poorly thought-out trade war with China, Trump now wants to start a trade war with another key trade partner, Mexico. What next? Trade war with Canada? Someone should look into whether he is specifically doing this to manipulate the stock market to benefit himself and his cronies who are shorting the market.
8
Trump's imposition of tariffs on Mexican products clearly demonstrates his willful ignorance. Americans will pay the price, not Mexicans.
In fact, Trump personifies ignorance every day of his life. Here is a definition of the term from Google: "Willful blindness (sometimes called Nelsonian knowledge) is a term used in law to describe a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping himself or herself unaware of facts that would render him or her liable or implicated."
That we have a creature occupying the White House who demonstrates his vile failings every single day is a source of discouragement for most Americans.
6
Clumsy. Could not build his wall with a Republican congress. Could not fix immigration policy with that same congress. Crisis at border worsens under his tenure. Suffering increases for migrants. Border a mess for those who want it strengthened and for those who want due process. His solution- grab the one nearest and simplest tool- the one tool he thinks he knows for foreign policy- tariffs. Wouldn't want to put the effort into the complicated work of truly fixing immigration policy. Using the clumsy hammer of tariffs, of course, does do one bit of work prized by the president- it vilifies someone. In using the hammer of tariffs, the president scapegoats Mexico for his own clumsy work.
6
The stable genius is a one trick pony! I guess I'll have to vote for sleepy Joe in 2020
2
While Trump deserves nothing but ridicule- in fairness- he promised the series of trade disasters that have ensued. And the voters- Left and Right bought into his essential argument- racist, nationalist and deceptively simple. And Wall Street can cry all it wants- Trump will only bow down with a credible threat.
What is slightly surprising are the free trade Republicans- beholden to Big Business that have sat almost silently letting him singlehandedly wreak havoc. Perhaps because while Trump is no better- he has exposed their hypocrisy. Romney, Cruz, Rubio and many more.
2
@Lowell Greenberg The Left bought in????
Trump achieved his main purpose today: we're all talking about tariffs instead of impeachment. Instead of appearing frantically weak, he gets to impress the base by playing the bully in a fun new skirmish. S. Bannon, quoted yesterday in the NYT on this issue, is enjoying watching everyone squirm.
7
So we’re going to tax Americans until Mexico stops allowing people from Central America to exercise their legal right to seek admission to the United States?
7
If Mr. Trump's goal is to get as many people around the world to resent and dislike the USA, he really is winning! It's certainly working in Canada, and I am sure Mexico are big fans as well. At least he didn't call Canadians rapists and drug dealers; he only called us a "national security threat".
I can't wait for a sane President to be elected so I can once again vacation in the US, and buy my favourite Kentucky-made bourbon. Until then, I will give my business to countries friendlier to Canada.
6
That thumb Trump holds up in the picture must have just come out of the eye of all Mexicans, the Senate, and the electorate. Why would any country negotiate any treaty with us on anything if Trump can wave them away on will or whim?
5
I went to both Walmart and Home Depot this morning. I paid about 20% more for products than I paid the last time I bought them.
Of course Trump knows it's us who end up paying his tariffs. Trump family companies have been making stuff in China for decades. But his base don't know it. They believe Trump when he tells them it's China and Mexico who pay the tariffs. Then the base pay the higher prices without remembering what they paid the last time. And they love him for it.
That's why Trump does it. He wants his base to think he's a hero. And combining tariffs with immigration is twice the rapture. Trump can't lose. While everybody else does.
2
Imposing tariffs, the way it is being done now, appears to be simply moving supply chains around (to Vietnam or India or Romania etc etc). How does this help the average US worker?
1
Mr. Trump's unbalanced budget - the USG spent -$234B more than it collected in tax revenue last month - is the hidden tariff that all future Americans will pay. At that run rate, Donald Trump will have added $9T to the debt by the end of FY2021. That's $500B more than the historical Obama additions to the debt in only half the time. What is wrong with out government that it cannot collect enough taxes to pay its bills?
We are witnessing the greatest wealth transfer in history as the ability to 'pay back' of all of us is used to borrow money and increase share prices for a few of us. Eventually, the stock bubble will pop and the debt incurred will remain. Just remember who caused it.
4
@Jack And the Obama years were years of recovery from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, while Trump's deficits are occurring while Trump has been the beneficiary of the recovery begun during the Obama Admin.
1
Not to mention, Obama’s debt increase was used to pull the economy out of a recession, whereas Trump’s increase is simple folly , an unnecessary tax cut for the wealthy and corporations, and dumb trade deals that destroyed farmers !!
1
While choosing a partner, supplier, or a country to do business, trust is the major factor and we are rapidly loosing it under this administration.
3
First, only 16% of asylum claims are granted, over 80% are basically fraudulent. The claimants knew from the beginning that they did not meet the specific legal requirements to be granted asylum.
Second, international law provides that the refugee must stay is the first safe country they enter and seek asylum there. That is Mexico.
Third, while I would prefet the U.S. military invade, occupy, and maintian a cordon sanitaire for the area 20 miles south of the border, a tariff will result in fewer deaths.
1
@Burton Seriously? You are recommending that the US military invade the territory of an ally and major trading partner?
6
I thought the New York Times loved taxes. Just like the Affordable Care Act was upheld because John Roberts argued that it was really a series of taxes legally imposed by Congress- though not portrayed as such by Barack, these tariffs could be a backdoor way recovering the annual $125 Billion in tax cuts enacted last year that the Times has complained about.
2
Good point. Republicans are socialists for the rich. The tariffs are targeted at the poor and working class who buy the products. So basically he used a rope a dope on the average American to redistribute more wealth to the rich.
6
I am hoping that investigative journalists at NY Times, WAPO and other media channels are looking at the financial activities of Trump and Kushner clans, Trump's wealthy members of cabinet (Ross, Mnuchin, Kudlow, DeVos) and mega rich republican donors (Mercers, Sheldon, etc.) before and after see-sawing actions on foreign policies which include imposition of tariffs.
High probability that what seems Trump's whimsical policy announcements are somehow tied with the opportunities to increase their fortune many fold. For example, going after Iran may have less to do with ideological policy (except merely using it as a facade while Mercers increase their wealth by few billion dollars through their petroleum industry related investments).
5
And the ones ultimately to suffer negative impact by the Trump Chinese and Mexican trade tariffs will be the American consumer. The cost of this tariff penalty will go on to increase the cost of the effected goods in the marketplace itself. One more demonstration of the type of destructive policies that can be hatched in the mind of a reckless President who came to the Presidency having made a career out of business bankruptcy.
2
Aren't there advisors who know these things? Why does everybody do whatever Trump wants even though they know he's wrong?
2
Haha haha 😂!
People may think Trump does not know what he is doing. He does: he wants to make life in the US so hard and expensive for everybody but the ultra rich that not many people would want to immigrate to the US. Not only that, many of the current residents would want to move to other countries.
Put a consumer tax of 25 % on every consumer item and make big cuts in the social protection net, that is health services, Medicare, Medic Aid, and Food Stamps, make college unaffordable, privatize K to 12, charge the middle class for everything that they use, like roads, bridges etc...and very soon the tax cuts for the ultra rich would be totally transferred to the Middle Classes.
Of course life will become hard and the future bleak for 360 million Americans minis 2 million, but that is the idea.
That would certainly dissuade would be immigrants.
6
xThis new spontaneous tariff is Trump's latest deflection ploy. The pattern of his deflections are now easily recognizable. Unfortunately the ultimate result of all this continuing is a downward spiral for America.
5
So we will tax Mexico because they are allowing refugees from central america to pass through their country to seek admission to the United States. Are we saying that Mexico should stop travelers through their country or be taxed? That isn't coherent or even lawful.
Until we analyze the issue of free trade from it's beginning, we will never come to a fair ending. Sometime in the 1980s, the monied powers in our country decided that the US would turn from a manufacturing country to a services oriented country.
That was the mistake. And American monied interests in our country took advantage by outsourcing good-paying manufacturing jobs to low wage countries, mostly to increase their profitability. This led to income inequality on steroids. Now we have to correct the problem. Our country could not compete with low-wage countries on workers' wages. But we didn't need to throw manufacturing and American middle class workers under the bus.
Let's correct this mistake by bringing manufacturing back to America for the sake of our middle class workers. Trump promised these workers he would bring manufacturing jobs back, but he failed. Tariffs were a remedy but American multinational corporations who caused the problem were not about to give up cheap labor and return the jobs to our country.
That's the conundrum. Will American multinational companies now become patriotic? How can they be forced to do so? Tariffs may be the only answer and the stock market doesn't like it.
2
Why are those people leaving their countries? What are the governments in these countries doing about it? It is unclear what agreements or relationships we have with these countries in Latin America. If there was one, has it broken down?
We are now blaming Mexico for allowing migrants to cross their borders into the US.
Mexico has been one of our very close allies. However, it seems the relationship between our two countries is not the same.
The US is a beneficiary to the Trade and Foreign Policy Agreements, and Alliances with countries around the world. The benefit is mutual, a two way traffic.
We see very little or no efforts in diplomacy we have always prided ourselves in. It is a vanishing breed.
We are now resorting to Tariffs, if not Sanctions, to get what we want. We are fast moving in that direction to seek solutions. Is this a new norm?
1
@citizen It's so simple that even Trump supporters understand this.....Give away free everything and people gravitate towards it. It's kind of like feeding the stray cat that stops by the neighborhood. Since I have been giving it free food it didn't have hunt for it keeps coming back. Path of least resistance. Heck if Germany said I could have a free Mercedes Benz and they would pay for my housing my phone, my food and insurance I would move there. Funny how all other countries understand this concept as well??
1
Stopped reading after the first sentence. The President's concern is related to illegal immigration. As a news source, you're likely aware the just yesterday border patrol identified the largest migrant group of 1,036 illegally immigrating into the US. This is a single moment in time. In fact, research suggests that illegal immigration is at an all time high.
Are we a country of laws? Should we ignore illegal immigrants? Does anyone realize, it's not only Mexican citizens that can cross the border illegally? Should we ignore the negative impact on our country, just because statistically illegal immigrants will vote Democrats, who favor big government and programs that give them free money, insurance, college, and other benefits? Do we really want our tax dollars allocated in this manner? Something has to be done, and it will take cooperation with Mexico. They have been unwilling to help, so tarriff's are a way to get their attention to an issue that is far too costly to ignore.
2
As brutal as is sometimes is, the purpose of the economy in the U.S. is to raise the standard of living of its people. Nowhere else in the world can people buy so much with so little. All tariffs do is decrease our standard of living, the exact opposite. Targeting a single metric like the trade imbalance is irrational, something only a paranoid person would consider. As a reminder, the most common symptom of paranoia is the sense that everyone is out to get you which perfectly describes the President in literally everything he says and does, every day. He should not be in position of public policy.
4
Didn't NAFTA reduce immigration from Mexico? If that's the case, wouldn't economic aid to the Northern triangle be more effective at reducing the flow of migrants than taxing Americans?
7
I have read that every plane crash is a result of multiple failures. inconceivable that Congress allows this. Yes, I know what that word means.
3
Trump and tariffs, his one trick pony.
2
Will this latest Trump absurdity finally hurt big money interests enough to act and see that Trump is removed via the 25th amendment? Could that be the one upside to this lunacy?
2
1. Make the announcement,
2. watch all sensible people gasp in horror,
3. Get the media in a frenzy, and rile up his supporters.
4. Somewhat or entirely walk it back
5. Sensible people look like alarmists to his supporters
6. His supporters think the sensible people are being unfair and just don't understand him.
12
The tariff's were announced a few hours ago and NYT's already has determined the policy "isn't working"?
Why shouldn't Mexico be held accountable not only for the policing of their own borders but but the obvious negative impact their lack of border control is having on our country?
3
Sadly we are seeing on a daily basis the ramifications of making a reality tv host the President of the United States. He does not have the policy expertise to serve or the common sense to hire and listen to smart people who do. He needs to go whether by impeachment or at the ballot box before the results of his incompetence hurt more Americans.
4
WHY ARE even discussing this man? he should have been denied access to the ballot by the GOP. and should have been forced to resign by congress, under penalty of impeachment and removal. and if not resigned, then removed, and charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison. he should be out of office for the economic damage alone, setting aside his criminal behavior and treasonous conspiracy with russia. and why havent we frozen all russian assets, expelled all russian diplomats, barred all travel from russia, sanctioned all russian businesses, issued arrest warrants for all the russian nationals involved in the 2016 election, and deported all other russian nationals who so much as collect a parking ticket?
2
Trump does not know anything about anything. His approach is always to strike out at whoever he can blame for his apparent failure. It's never his fault, because he cannot deal with reality. He certainly does not understand the first thing about tariffs and trade. But by blaming Mexico now, he thinks that will divert attention from his clear failure regarding the border issue. A perceived punch deserves the worst he can command. He will never work with others because they will claim his credit. He has to be the one!
2
From the time Trump hit the campaign stage he's been selling snake oil and this is more of the same. Throughout our history, "snake oil" has received its reputation because there is a significant number of Americans prefer to be scammed. Oh, not explicitly, of course, but they NEED to be people who are part of the group that knows more than the elite mainstream.
It is all "in your face" antagonism against "intellectuals"; elect Trump to "shake things up" without caring about the consequences. Until the consequences hit us like a loose tornado. Then it'll be the Democrats fault.
3
@dpaqcluck
Indeed! I'm sure there are still people who think that Bernie Madoff was a legitimate financial advisor "who was treated very unfairly."
1
Tariffs are Trump's bully stick.
How about an analysis of the cost/benefits of Trump's tariffs. I understand his tariffs have caused such suffering among farmers that they need hand outs from our Treasury. Then there are the steel tariffs that have deprived manufacturers of nails, of all things. Now Trump is using tariffs to solve the very complex issue of migrants fleeing violence, poverty and climate change in their homelands. Is this crazy?!
Add to this a review of his multiple disastrous business deals, followed by strong arming Deutsche Bank, the only bank in the world that would loan to him.
Such an analysis would show a person incapable of learning from the disasters he visits on himself and now on our nation and the world. We would call such a person a fool; others in his cabinet have used the words idiot or moron.
Yet we still tolerate him to lead our country. Unlike Nixon, who had a cancer on his presidency, Trump IS the cancer.. As a cancer that metastasizes and destroys all normal tissue in its path, the cancer that is Trump must be removed before he kills our nation. He threatens our very existence.
1
At a very basic level Trump seems truly to believe ... to trust fully ... that he can act on anything ... anything! ... with impunity. And when evidence to the contrary presents itself in terms of unwanted consequences, he cries “fake” and simply blames someone/ something else. Rooted in cowardice, this is beyond stupidity; though whatever it is, it encompasses it.
1
There he goes again..."Mexico will pay for it."
2
Putin himself couldn't have designed a more destructive U.S. policy. Oh wait, maybe he's the one who designed it.
4
So the bottom line on this week's events is further confirmation that Trump and virtually his entire administration is corrupt and likely even criminal, immoral, inept, incompetent, uniformed, willfully ignorant, and just plain old stupid. All in all a pretty sad assessment. And, just to make it all more disheartening almost all Congressional Republicans are complicit in supporting this buffoon and his actions and policies. The 2020 election can not come soon enough.
4
Okay Mexico- you’re grounded.
Wall Street excesses, misuse of tariffs, and weather's impact on agriculture. Sound vaguely familiar? Turn to the chapter on the Great Depression in your book on American history of which this President is painfully ignorant.
5
Who says everyone in the world has a "legal right" to come to America? The NY Times? Come on man! We cant allow EVERYONE here. We need to help the governments that are abusing their own people to make life better in their own countries not import them all to the US.
1
When your only tool is a wrench, everything is a gum ball machine.
1
I think most Americans are ok with the tariffs. I don't think people care if the NYT wants to continually point out the irrelevant point that in an accounting sense this is a tax on American consumers.
Because we're all smarter than this argument, even those who make it disingenuously, like the NYT.
We can take your argument at face value and just rebel against US taxes the way that US corporations have done. Let's all rally for lower taxes!
Hmmm...
Do you think we're this stupid?
Trump is trying to force a resolution to the problems caused by unfettered global trade using the only lever that congress will allow him. He can levy tariffs!
I believe God did want Trump to be president. Even if his solution don't provide a direct resolution to the immediate problems, they're forcing everyone to look at the system and confront it's problems and inequities.
No wealthy people had any reason to confront the destruction their investments have caused for the American people before this. This is a big stick in the eye of neoliberals and their wealthy, crackpot sycophants.
1
@DudeNumber42,
And I believe you speak for a large majority of Trump voters.
@DudeNumber42, I have no idea who you are speaking for but I would wager just the opposite. That most Americans are NOT OK with tarrifs. And to say that this is just a tax in an accounting sense is completely disingenuous. This will hurt the poor and middle class right where it hurts, in their pocketbook. The people that don't really care about the tarrifs are the rich. They won't care about having to spend an extra $10 for a sweatshirt made in China or Mexico. But that extra $10 means a lot more for a poor family that will now pay more for everything.
I wonder when Republicans in Congress will finally begin to sour on this idiocy. Maybe their drowned-out constituents in the Midwest and the south can't grow or sell their crops? When people who are barely getting by can't afford basic goods and start to scream? If "it's the economy, stupid," maybe this human wrecking ball running the country will finally meet his comeuppance. Or maybe they're so cultish that they simply wait for the End Times?
1
His predecessors and he have overused economic sanctions. Now he is overusing tariffs with MX where the national security interest he is claiming to protect has nothing to do with MX trade policy. Eventually, these two tools dull and become useless.
And then what? Impotent inaction? Or war?
Let's count our blessings. This idiot still thinks he is Very Successful. I dread the moment when he realizes he's been Very Unsuccessful and has become a worldwide object of derision.
America will tolerate this odious, divisive, self-celebrative chief executive as long as the economy looks relatively decent. We would have tolerated Hitler, Stalin, Mao, or Pol Pot, if any of them had been President, and the economy under any of them had looked relatively decent. The real wonder is that we got rid of Nixon—a perhaps unique moment in our nation’s history where something besides the economy mattered even more to us. Ours is the most materialistic society, ever. Only economic hardship can save us from our own excesses in this regard. We’ll certainly deserve them when they come.
3
I can't wait until he announces that he will be imposing tariffs on any product of California that gets shipped east of the Sierras.
Congress might make him walk that one back but I'm not betting on it.
5
This is on you, NYT.
You and your media colleagues.
How often do you run your daily feature on yet another tariff, most often against one of our best trading partners and allies?
And what's the graphic you unfailingly choose to run with, the click-bait paragraph on page one, the misleading headline?
Something along the lines of: "Trump says tarries are working beautifully."
"Trump says tariff produce billions for US."
Over and over and over again. And its not just tariffs.
NYT, you've become a specialist in this area - featuring, quoting, repeating outrageously false and misleading material without comment or analysis. You do it most when it runs exactly counter to the article it accompanies.
Yes Trump is an idiot. No, tariffs have done nothing positive for America. Yes Americans are paying for all this economic witch-doctory. And, no, you have nothing of value to say about it.
Disappointing.
2
If our trade policies have been so bad and we are so strangled by regulations, it kind of makes you wonder how we've become the richest, most powerful country in the world.
At this rate we may not be for long.
“When all you have is a hammer, you treat everything like a nail.”
3
When a country selects a person to lead it who is amoral, arrogant, and ignorant of the basic principles of public policies, that country can expect governmental actions that are expedient instead of wise, brutal instead of compassionate, and offensive instead of diplomatic.
5
If your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Actually, his other tool is pardons - he can give them out unilaterally as well. Trump had some adults in the room in the beginning, who kept him from doing all possible damage. No more. We get to see what is true Trump. A cruel simpleton who eschews anyone who seeks to inform him to make better decisions. His ignorance is so deep, that he doesn't recognize it. Dunning Kruger.
5
« Seems pretty foolproof. »
In an era where the intentional manipulation of news has become a political weapon, the Times’ choice to indulge in sarcasm sabotages a perfectly sound argument.
When the only tool one can figure out is a hammer, every problem UNNNNGH ERRRRGH ME SMASH.
3
And Americans do not understand how tariff's work do to the dereliction of the news media.
It is incomprehensible to me so many citizens support this mediocre man of poor character who has no business occupying the oval office.
The (quite revealing) mimicking of the news reporter way back when should have disqualified him at once.
2
Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your neighbor's forehead. (Chinese proverb)
4
Aha. Clever, clever President Trump.
Dispense with money, and go back to barter. One thing for another of reasonably equal worth---kids call it a trade--- a comic book for a ball cap.
A truck of avocadoes for a I-phone--if Apple can find something to trade for Chinese rare earths!
Some countries already have little need for money---take a bow North Korea, and clever, clever Kim Jong-un--a Trump buddy!
Some things may be harder to obtain with no money, but clever President Trump is looking for YOUR vote in 2020.
What will you get in return?
1
Another example of "let's throw it against the wall (no pun intended) and see what sticks."
2
Your editorial assumes that Trump actually thought or cares about the details of imposing tariffs. He does not. He is a narcissistic, ignorant man who is in a position to inflict all of the ill will he bears against anyone who doesn't look like him. The bar for thoughtful policies and decency towards fellow human beings is lower than it has ever been in my 75 years of existence. But let's not give up hope...it will probably be lower next week, and the week after, etc.
3
Tax and spend Republicans- we knew it all along - hypocrites all.
3
For a while Trump had a new toy, pardons, a power he could wield with impunity. Political pals like “Sheriff Joe”, poof “you’re pardoned.” Wow, he could pardon a black lady to....then the blacks will love him! Then a little bird told him that too much pardon talk was of interest to Mr. Mueller and maybe could be considered an act of obstruction of justice. Too bad Manafort, too bad Cohen.
So Trump is playing with a new toy, tariffs. Tariffs are great because you “slap on” a tariff. Boom, Presidential power. Do as I say or I will cause you economic harm. What damage he does to the US economy, consumers, international supply chains does not fit into his analysis. How myopic is his thought process? He thinks he can concurrently enter into a trade agreement with Mexico and then demonstrate to his trading partner that he can abrogate the terms upon his whim. China, if you are listening (they are way ahead of the game) a trade deal with Trump is worth as much as a Trump U diploma, or a Trump Baja condo.
4
Tariffs are another type of taxation without representation. This time imposed by Trump instead George III. They can also be considered as self-sanctions, I assume imposed by Trump at the suggestion of Putin, most likely. Trump is either too stupid or too pliable to realize tariff’s are more destructive to the U.S. than to our trading partners. Unfortunately the Republicans don’t even represent business interests in the U.S. anymore, much less its citizens.
3
Trump is like the Red Queen in "Alice in Wonderland," screaming "off with their heads" at every perceived slight and exploiting American power to personalize every conflict. If every world leader behaved in the way he does we'd be engaged in a world war or, at the very least, a kindergarten food fight.
4
Trump still has this illusion that he can come up with instantaneous fixes for the world's problems without working with others or going to the trouble of studying the issues. He is the worst of America, the ugly american who steps on toes without a pause and will renege on promises at will. Mexico is our partner in so many ways, not our whipping boy.
5
He operates by fiat because he has no ability to actually “make a deal.” He doesn’t know how to take with others let alone get them to agree with him! Does he have any good qualities as a person or as a President?
This tariff is just one caveman bashing another man over the head. Woohoo! What a “leader.” Feh.
3
Trump's affinity for tariffs stems from his egregiously mistaken belief that he is a superb deal maker combined with the utterly foolish notion on the part of too many Americans that Trump excelled at what he did before becoming president. Before he became president, Trump was great at being a media clown, spewing racist and sexist vitriol, fleeing his bad business practices and filing bankruptcies, cavorting with Russian oligarchs, and being thoroughly corruption and indecent.
Since Trump has no idea what he is doing, he keeps coming up with these foolish tariffs because he thinks it makes him look strong.
2
The Board writes:
"Mexico is a plausible alternative destination for low-cost manufacturing work"
It is , if you do not care about Shannon Mulcahy
"Becoming a Steelworker Liberated Her. Then Her Job Moved to Mexico.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/us/union-jobs-mexico-rexnord.html
2
If only the president would threaten to hold his breath until he got his way.
4
We have a commander Quegg at the helm- a madman with an unsteady hand. Now is Mutiny Time for all ABS.
4
Every day the buffoonery reaches new heights. Ringling Brothers closed down. Donald is filling the void for circus acts.
3
One note Johnny. This is all he knows to do. Sigh. When will get a President who actually knows something? Please!
1
Tairffs, Tairffs, Tairffs...do you remember when Omarosa said something about Trump planning to get revenge on all the businesses and people who did not emphasize with him when he was in in financial difficulties... And here we are, with a daily deluge of disorganized distractions and destruction..
And so the world turns...
1
This is all about Trump overtly swapping out Mueller-Impeachment news cycle for
Mexico-Tariff news. And for some reason we keep falling for it. Squirrel!
3
Mueller appears on Wednesday...his inimitable self, but clearly referencing the direction the inquiry was leading to.....
trump comes out on Thursday with his Mexican tariff policy, linked square on to thwarting immigration traffic through the country...and all the media oxygen that he knows will ensue.
Again....ALL OF THIS IS NOT NORMAL...we are so inured to the gradual politicization of all the institutions of Government. IMPEACH this guy....it won't get rid of him in time but it sends a message to the country and the world!! NOT NORMAL.
2
Donald Trump is a malevolent arrogant juvenile who thinks he can bully his way through world trade markets.
If our economy tanks and Trump capitulates to try to save his re-election, there is a high probability that the Chinese and other aggrieved nations will call his bluff and say sorry no deal.
Then we are in way more trouble than we already are in.
3
The party that impeached Bill Clinton for lying about an affair with his intern will let their own guy get away with sticking it to us all.
3
The "Stable Genius"is again displaying his game. He wants to create chaos in the American society which is the playbook of his mentor Putin. I think that he feels if he can create confusion and anger in the American population he can suspend United States constitutional rights and become the autocrat the Republicans seem to want as their government. Creating a Recession/Depression is the swamp into which he seems to be leading the United States. Republicans, prove you are patriots and impeach this cancer on the American body politics.
3
Snake oil salesman is at it again.
2
Donald Trump, one of the Wharton School of Business finest.
4
Tariffs are the new snake oil, and Trump is the charlatan salesman.
3
I’m still trying to process this, because out of all of the idiotic, counterproductive, destructive ideas that Trump has come up with over the course of his adulthood — “Trump Steaks,” anyone? — the idea that imposing tariffs on Mexican goods will somehow stop the flow of immigrants at the border is the most numbskull of them all.
But then it’s akin to a small child having a tantrum, threatening to harm himself and everyone around him if he doesn’t get his way... and what could be more Trumpian?
Tell me again how taxing Americans who buy Mexican goods will somehow compel Mexico to stop migrants from coming here - assuming Mexico can stop them anyway? And if the tariffs harm the Mexican economy, won’t that provide further incentive to Mexican workers to come here looking for work — assuming all of these tariff tantrums hither and yon don’t tank the economy in the U.S. as well?
To borrow a turn of phrase from the sage Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon!”
2
And with the president’s tariff fixation not working to benefit American manufacturers, businesses, farmers and consumers, why do significant percentages of these people continue their support of an administration that has no idea of what it’s doing?
The influx of —I’ll be generous and refer to them as “asylum seekers”—Central Americans from the holocaust in their homeland is something that Mexico cannot remedy. It’s not their problem.
By imposing another tax burden on the American consumer because he lacks both emotional impulse control and something like a comprehensive plan to wrestle seriously with a taxed border, the president is merely putting off the awful day.
By imposing a five percent per month punishment tax on us all, Donald Trump is clearly in violation of the Constitution. We are not under attack from a foreign power seeking to overthrow our government. This is a substantial policy issue that he has sidestepped since he became a candidate. He has been pleased to whip up racial animosity toward Hispanics to make his puny point. To him, this is all just a whim.
Will the farmers who so unthinkingly embrace him—and the parts manufacturers—who stand to find other markets closed to them—continue to support a president who looks at both sides of a coin, only to see the same thing?
4
Trump has no diplomatic tools other than tariffs. He has gutted the State Department, denounced the United Nations, and has likely never heard of the Organization of American States.
This what you get when you elect a so-called businessman who relied on his father's money and bank loans, doesn't read, and doesn't listen to real experts. I'm waiting for him to try and sue Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. That's usually one of his favorite moves.
1
Many thoughtful, informed, observant comments. One thing about trump is that he has provoked us to examine the way things work--and don't work.
4
@dressmaker
Indeed. A crash course in international economics, if you will. Then, watch the international economy crash because of Trump.
1
Look over here!
Once again Trump manages to find a way to take the attention off Mueller and the investigation into Russian interference.
5
Our brainless leader said that Mexico would pay for the wall. He withdrew monetary assistance to the very countries that are feeding this crisis. The refugees increased. He shutdown the government for almost 40 days and walked away with nothing in the "deal". Congress has voted for border security enhancement, for more agents, more judges. But Trump wants his Maginot line. That worked out well too. Now tarriffs again. Wonder if this was the same strategy he used on Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka, Barron.
3
I used to believe historically that Harding, Hoover and Nixon were our three most embarrassing American presidents.
No longer.
Trump has now officially proven that he has risen to the tippy top of that list.
2
I don't get the sense that he cares whether tariffs work or not. His primary job is to protect himself by shoring up support with his base. A friend of mine and I used to laugh about something similar back in the 90's with Giuliani. The language with which he approached problems was phrased, "New Yorkers are sick of all of these-- fill in the blank with a group== always getting away with -- fill in the blank with a problem that irritates conservative voting New Yorkers-- and we aren't going to put up with it anymore! The populists love this, as they believe it shows strength while managing to scapegoat the other. Trump does this with the Chinese, with Mexicans, and with those highfalutin European nations taking advantage of Americans "paying the lion's share NATO". It's like going after the squeegee men on an epic scale. His supporters eat it up. Of course, it fixes nothing but it's what supporters "feel" that matters, not reality.
4
More chaos in service of Putin's dream of removing western democracy from the world.
2
Unfortunately, the people (AKA Voters) who really need to understand this message will not read about it in the NYT, or hear about it from a reliable unbiased media source. They hear only Trump and see only Fox, and pay the price of these pass-through self-imposed taxes. What will it take for folks to finally get it?
6
If you were age 72 and got up every day and lashed out at someone or something, the people around you would be very concerned.
This is extremely disturbed behavior.
7
“Americans will feel the pain.” Trump couldn't care less. His base will applaud his weirdest decisions.
3
Are there any tariffs in place that hurt anyone named Trump?
Mexican grown produce is in direct competition with American grown. Canada, Mexico and most of the world has blown up greenhouse production of high quality produce. US farmers can't justify the costs of investment in these many acre production systems, when cheap highly perishable produce is steadily imported.
Coincidently, Sinaloa is the epicenter of this form of agriculture (14,500 hectares and growing), international Pacific shipping and the illegal drug trade.
Maybe Trump could stumble onto a strategy to curb perishable imports, illegal drugs and counterfeit drugs all in one ugly and foul swoop.
@sginvt
So are you going to start buying US grown Kona coffee at $35 a pound or are you just bluffing?
@Fran Taylor
Not likely to buy coffee shipped or flown from Hawaii, high carbon cost. I like Free Trade coffee, and I have wholesaled American grown produce long enough to see advantage if imported perishables go up in price for a little while. It is a shame this autocrat may get the credit, but maybe he is the fall guy a more sustainable economy needs.
Kind of ironic that the least workable Democrat policy, raising taxes, is exactly how King Trumpo has decided to operate.
1
Trump has reached the point of desperation. Rational thinking is not an option. Was it ever? His advisors are both powerless and fearful of a man whose mind has run amok. They themselves have lost all sense of decency as seen by this latest egregious and cruel decision re the USS John McCain. We go from one manufactured crisis to another, our latest being tariffs on our southern neighbor which itself is unable to control the victimization of and violence toward Central Americans. I will argue that this latest tweeting decision has its root in the growing evidence of Trump’s culpability re his election. The vise of justice is closing in on him. Even his MAGA supporters, his abetting GOP Senate and Attorney General can not save him from himself. Meanwhile, Americans are exploited and thrown under the bus, many ignorant and clueless that their leader is a fraud.
3
Today’s Partial List of Business Entities and Other Organizations Driven Into Extinction Or Bankruptcy Or Teetering On The Edge Of Financial Disaster As A Result Of The Efforts Of President Donald J. Trump:
Trump Steaks
GoTrump (online travel site)
Trump Airlines
Trump Vodka
Trump Mortgage
Trump: The Game
Trump Magazine
Trump University
Trump Ice (bottled water)
The New Jersey Generals (pro football team)
Tour de Trump (bicycle race)
Trump Network (nutritional supplements)
Trumped! (syndicated radio spot)
United States of America.
5
Tariffs are basically the only thing Trump can do unilaterally--it allows him to feel like the king he should be. This will not end until he is removed from the WH.
Personally, the way things are going with election security, Facebook's complicity with Russia, Trump's rabid unmovable base of racists, and the GOP Senate, I believe we'll be cursed with this grifter for another 4 years.
2
The entire far right fantasy of neo-Nationalism is counter-productive, cancerous, and ultimately associated with a kind of slow genocide of people of color and the "lower" classes in general.
The logic is before our eyes and truly irrefutable. The billionaires who share Rupert Murdoch's horrific racism and malevolence care not a wit about anyone or anything other than themselves and their immediate families. These folks don't even care about their descendants. "Carpe Diem" is an understatement for this form of Trumpite.
Tariffs are a sadist's dream. Yes- we are dealing with an aspect of what produces fascism- an unholy alliance of the very rich, the military, and corporations. Thousand year Reichs were always a fantasy. Time means nothing to the fascist. Its all immediate gain. Fascism is like setting fire to a time bomb.
Tariffs are just one match among many that this disaster called Trump is using to blow up the world order and literally anything else that might help folks other than the very wealthy.
Tariffs are a tax on the poor. Tariffs are sadism writ into economics. Tariffs allow a bad man and a horrid administration to centralize power further into the hand of Oligarchy.
Gosh do you really think it “matters” politically whether it works ? Technocrats rarely get elected. At least not in these times.
Learn to fight.
Trump's tariff on Mexico is not just a tax on Americans, it's a tax on Americans that's covering a Trump campaign expense. Border policy means nothing to him. He's just using American's money to message the anti-immigrant, racist core of his base that he stands with them against all people of color.
3
He has quickly succeeded doing in this short time what ISIS, Al Queda, North Korea, Russia, Iran, etc. combined could ever dream in an extreme fantasy scenario to damage the US. I sincerely hope that someone is watching his shorting and investing activity.
2
Will nothing embolden the craven Republicans to cross their deranged master? I am more and more convinced that his madness will reign unchecked until things get really, truly bad.
1
Apparently no one in the White House with an economic brain in his or her head can get through to Trump that his tariff gambit is doomed.
2
Canada and Mexico should just sit on their hands and wait 6 months before even starting to ratify the deal.
Trump University, in action.
Sad.
1
Let’s imagine that our “stable genius” spent that same amount of money to create safe zones in the countries where their powerful, violent, criminal gangs chase the innocent towards our borders. Would that not more effectively reduce the desperation that fuels the caravans that Trump supporters detest?
2
I wonder if Mr. Trump has considered paying Mexico to install walls on its northern and southern borders.
What does anyone expect. This is a guy who took billions of his daddy’s money and money of other people—then promptly lost it all. Fake business person, fake president. Did anyone expect real policy?
Mexico feeds the U.S. all winter long. So now Americans will pay higher prices for fruits and vegetables, just like they are paying for Chinese electronics.
I agree, more pain and no gain. Farmers already financially weak from the trade war with China are now unable to plant because of constant rain flooding fields. Perfect time for Mexico to slap on more tariffs.
The tax cut for billionaires was evaluated yesterday; not only did it not pay for itself, tax revenue did not even go up over baseline because of the giveaway. Wage increases average under $30. Unless you are a millionaire, the tax cut made you just another sucker in Trump’s game of “heads I win tails you lose.”
Now we are going to abdicate our place in the world as the leader of all men and women who long to live free to a despotic money-launderer in Moscow.
And Mexico, the world-leader in passive-aggressive diplomacy against the US from 1923 to 1992, will now return to their former foreign policy of “nothing good comes from helping the gringos.”
If you ever wore a MAGA hat, keep wearing it so I know who to ask “you enjoy this?”
2
President Trump's child-like behavior, characterized by bluff, bluster, name-calling, threats, bullying, ranting and self-absorption makes for good press but has become monotonous and tiring. It's time for America to put an adult into the White House.
The Donald wants a Wall; he promised his fans a wall.
He behaves just like Kim Jong-un. He'll blow up the US economy unless he gets paid off.
Maybe some Democrats will give him the money for the wall.
Maybe not.
It's just another game and The Donald doesn't care who loses.
Trump is a medieval-king-wannabe. He likes tariffs because he feels like a king with them. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t have a clue how to use them, nor is he interested in finding that out or being advised by someone who is knowledgeable. Trump can just wave his hand and announce a tariff here and there and it happens. That is the sort of power he likes. He is tired of being thwarted by pesky laws and irritating courts upholding the Constitution.
The truly scary thing is that there is a large group of cult-like Trump supporters who would be thrilled if Trump was king of the USA. Democracy of any sort and the rule of law are not values they believe in any more.
I think we should raise tariffs on Canada and keep raising them until they find a cure for cancer.
2
Trump is wrecking the US economy, and the only people delighted with the result are Putin's henchmen.
This reminds me of all the casinos and other businesses that Donald bankrupted. Just keep doing the same thing over and over and over despite the accumulated evidence of your own incompetence. I guess that’s Donald’s approach.
1
From my understanding of WTO rules, you may selectively include tariff's on goods which are deemed in national security interest (which is how the steel tariffs were allowed).
Dear New York Times: I have a Degree in Economics and work in International Trade/Business: Can you please explain to us/me the relationship of these tariffs to WTO rules and why there hasn't been a case brought against us yet?
This is the Tax Increase and Loss of Jobs Act. He's symmetrical if nothing else.
Wait! The cunning of it! The tariffs “Mexico pays” will pay for the wall! So two campaign pledges checked off at once! How could I ever doubted his “stable genius “?
The Impostor-In-Chief doesn't understand business, economics or government.
What he understands is spite, self-aggrandizement, using other people's money, bankruptcy and authoritarianism.
Trump's redeeming features as a human being couldn't fill half a thimble.
Since Trump has no diplomatic or negotiating skills, he must rely on his preternatural skills of demonizing others and lying for a living to sustain his reign of error and deception.
Authoritarian tariffs that demonize the Chinese and Mexicans are music to the ears of his Whites R Us cult members who want to Make The 1950's Great Again.
Look at all the great 'deals' this so-called President has negotiated with his own Congress since his Illegitimate 'election':
Just one giant 0.1% Welfare Tax Cut (that spites productive blue states that didn't vote for him)....and a series of smaller farm welfare deals to compensate ruby red Republican welfare states for his destructive tariffs.
In the modern global economy, countries do well by educating their population, innovating, modernizing and competing in world markets.
There's no going backward in life, unless there's a Mad Tariff Man steering a ship of Mad Hatters furiously backwards.
America would do very well to reject this Mad Tariff Man whose toolbox has always been barren except for his magical tools of spite, ill will and psychological manipulation.
Remember to impeach this tariff fool, Congress.
And remember to vote out this Man Man in 2020, America.
10
The media needs to keep pounding away on this subject so all Americans will finally understand that Trump is an simpleton and is not doing them any favors. Moreover, he promised not to be the president of executive orders like he blamed Obama for using and staying off the golf course because he would be too busy. Well, we now know the truth.
The US has declared economic war on the world. Shooting to follow.
3
Trump's policy for everything is, make a big noise, dominate the headlines, and always do something - never do nothing. He knows that the only thing that counts in modern politics is fame. Celebrity, no matter how it is gained, is worth money.
He can totally foul up everything in his term and still walk away, possibly to Russia, and still market his fame.
It's working!
1
Good article. In a world with a lot of problems, weekend is coming. I wake up and I read DT has put tariffs on Mexico because does not do enough against immigration. He has his arguments. But the solution I would propose would be: https://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com/2014/04/consejo-mundial-para-el-desarrollo-y-la.html López Obrador is correct about A Marshal Plan for Central America, I would add Latina and a large part of Africa. This cannot be done without a great world agreement. In addition, there should be a big plan for family planning policies, population in Central America grows very unevenly. The differences between developed and developing countries are increasing every year: https://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com/2018/09/diferencias-entre-paises-desarrollados.html
There will be no solution, because world is deeply split, economic and in ideas field: https://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com/2016/03/la-division-de-ideas-en-todo-ambito-de .html
The only solution in sight is this (I think in a short time, but you cannot foresee a date. Meanwhile crisis will prevail):
https://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com/2012/08/la-ayuda-de-maitreya-esta-muy-cerca.html
https://nuevaeconomiaycompartir.blogspot.com/2014/02/el-reagrupamiento-del-pensamiento.html
We all need to stop pretending that Trump's tariffs are anything other than an alternative source of funding for the US Treasury to offset the massive tax cuts he gave himself and his millionaire and billionaire friends.
5
@Lisa Mann Tariffs add nothing to the US Treasury. The tariffs are not paid for by the country for which tariffs have been imposed. Tariffs are paid for, ultimately, by the American consumer.
1
Between sanctions, trade wars and tariffs soon we will be doing business with no one. Trade into and out of the US will grind to a near stop as everyone figures out which policy to apply.
1
Just in. Mr. Trump has imposed new across-the-board tariffs. On Mr. Mueller who will not exonerate him. On Congress which is investigating him. On the Constitutional free press which won't stop being the Constitutional free press. On the independent judiciary. On the rule of law. On the Constitution. National security. China will pay.
4
Well, Trump isn't picking up any votes with the madness of his methods. Hopefully this will seal his fate in 2020.
4
Either Donnie doesn't really know how tariffs work (WE pay the tariff!), or he doesn't care. I'm thinking that his BASE doesn't quite realize how they work, either.
6
Tariffs may have had some advantage to us were they implemented some 35 years ago, but that ship has sailed. The economies of the world are now so interrelated, they cannot be separated by tariffs or any other simple solution.
Congress let corporate America run away to low wage countries with nary a penalty for doing so. They laid off workers even using them to train their replacements in a foreign country. It cost workers their health insurance, pensions, and in many cases, their homes. The CEOs became multi millionaires, workers joined the bread line, and Congress never even blinked.
Now Trump thinks he can close the barn door, but the horse is already gone.
3
So when you see prices jump in the produce section of the supermarket, you can blame our bumbling leader in the White House. It doesn't take an economist to figure this out. Once again, Trump is unable to see the consequences of his actions. The problem is, will folks be able to connect the dots when they go to the polls in 2020?
2
Why does Trump rely upon tariffs? Is it because he's convinced his supporters that China is paying them, not Joe Public?
Two weeks ago Trump announced that a settlement had been achieved with Canada and Mexico. But now we see a complete reversal and the imposition of tariffs that will raise the cost of cars and everything else coming out of Mexico. It will cause more Mexicans to lose their jobs and enter the US.
Why would Trump reverse course so radically? Rational people try to find reasons for erratic behavior & in stock trading, it's known as confirmation bias. Traders find reasons to support their mistaken beliefs.
People need to consider that Trump really doesn't have a plan or logical reasons. That he is a seriously conflicted man whose in over his head. 17 investigations and calls for impeachment is enough to cause anyone to lose their better judgment. His massive real estate losses and bankruptcies suggest the only thing he's good at is "gift of gab".
1
So again, we are at a point that in order to satisfy Trump's ego, he is willing to serious damage not just the US economy but also that of other countries.
BUT, we are not talking about Mueller's report anymore. Let's not get blindsighted!!!!!!!
1
If Mexico places tariffs on US agricultural exports, Trump will simply throw a wad of cash at US farmers and buy their re-election votes. Governing bigly!
4
If I were a retailer, I would immediately raise prices on the prospect of tariffs (whether or not I imported from Mexico). Then when the tariffs actually hit the supply chain, I would raise prices again with the same rationale. I'd pocket the extra profits and never look back.
If a competitor held prices constant, I'd use my extra profits to buy him out. Then sell to a Fortune 500 and retire early. I'd still vote for whomever isn't Trump.
2
The solution to the Central American refugee crisis does not lie at the border or in Mexico but in Central America, where the President has cut assistance. To borrow from Clinton's INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, these poor souls need "A Right to Stay" in their home nations where they are being driven out by cartels, gangs and corrupt politicians.
Given the ignorance which characterizes Trump's Bad Neighbor Policy toward Latin America (e.g., these infernal tariffs, Venezuela and Central America) little can be done until we have a new President. But the Democrats who run the House of Representatives could set up a non-partisan Select Commission to craft a proposal for a new Latin American policy with specific measures to help not just the Northern Triangle but Central America in general, conditioned on recipient nations taking measures to ensure free elections, improve their judicial systems, clean up policing, etc. The carrot of course, a considerable assistance program, dedicated to public health, education, the judicial system and developmental aid.
If, as is likely, such a Commission did a decent job, the House could lay down a marker for a new administration by authorizing monies for a new policy.
Note: The analogue for such a policy is not the Marshall Plan (as some have called for) but JFK's Alianza and Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). Neither was perfect, but both helped nations of the region help themselves.
4
We all know how taking an antibiotic will cure a viral disease ...
Sheesh!
5
After Trump, many discretionary powers invested by the Legislative branch in the Executive must be sharply curtailed. Tariffs, and the fate of the American economy, cannot be left in the hands of the next erratic, would-be despot the American people are fool enough to elect, not with the precedent of Trump's use of them. Yes, this would require a more responsive and responsible legislature to meet future exigencies, but the Trump Presidency has proved the current and past trust in the Executive is simply no longer tenable. That proof before our eyes cannot be safely ignored.
4
@RRI - I had EXACTLY the same thought. The amount of power delegated to the executive is ridiculous. Slapping tariffs should be decided by a representative and responsive Congress.
I totally agree. The executive branch must be curtailed. Way to much autocratic power and the house needs to be able to block senate nominations via veto.
'Mr. Trump might succeed in pressuring Mexico to take stronger steps on immigration. Tariffs, however, are a very crude tool.'
'Crude' is the operative word here. Mr. Trump is a crude man with a limited repertoire of ideas, and an abundant capacity for cruelty.
4
Not only is it not working, but the GOP and Trump are starting early on a typical Republican tactic when it starts to look like they are going to lose their highly illegal, tenuous grip on power: either start wars or crash the economy.
Preferably both.
What you’re seeing is the wind-up for a Republican collapse in 2020, where —with these tactics — they think they’ll win either way.
If they happen to win the election, they can use more fear to “keep labor costs down” — lay off lots of workers, refuse raises to those that remain. And they can send the recalcitrant workers off to war, as cannon fodder.
This has worked since the 19th century.
If, more likely, they happen to lose, they leave the Democratic Party with political chaos and economic collapse, yet again, and the Democrats have to spend all their time cleaning up the mess.
And, once it’s all cleaned up, the GOP swings back into power, claiming all the resulting years of success as their own, and beginning the destructive cycle all over again.
This is plain as day! Why don’t people see it for the treasonous fraud it is?!
I’ll never understand.
6
This opinion piece starts with "....allowing people from Central America to exercise their legal right to seek admission to the United States?"
This is my forever conundrum toward American immigration system. How come illegally entering another country is "their legal right to seek admission" which the writer seems to mean the legal right to break in or trespass without permission????? Is there such a thing as legal right to break into another person's land without prior permission?
Should our house break in or trespassing by strangers be legally protected as the perpetrator's legal right to seek admission to break in and trespass our house?
@fleetingthought International law, to which we subscribe, allows people to seek refuge in a country not their own. It is (obviously) not akin to someone breaking into your house, since individual "good Samaritan" laws do not put an affirmative burden on individuals to help others.
People make legal asylum claims at ports of entry.
@fleetingthought They are not sneaking in to our country. They cross the border and immediately present themselves to border agents. They are seeking asylum. That is completely legal.
1
Oh Boy snake oil man is in town again.
Trump doe know nothing about business and economics.
His business is all about low level, mob involved dealings.
And this country, giant corporations , economical institutions are trying to find merit in his actions.
Please be a honest and confront this person, express something.
1
Taxes, Threats,Traditions, Tweets, Trade, Treaties, Tariffs, Treason?
Tax cut to buy the support and silence of the Top 0.1% and corporate "People." Add Trillions to the national debt.
Threats to NATO, our European allies, and partners in the World economy built on American leadership, political and economic values. Threats to political opponents and the press.
Breaking traditional rules of American governance, to faithfully execute the laws of the land. Selling weapons and nuclear technology to Middle Eastern countries without consent of Congress. Failure to follow the law in treatment of asylum seekers fleeing death and violence in Central America. Separating children from their families.
Tweets to incite violence, tweets to rule by Presidential edicts, tweets to lie, lie. lie.
Trade. Renounce NAFTA. Treat our largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada as economic enemies.Pull out of the TPT. Undermine the WTO.
Treaties. Withdraw from the Paris Accords to deal with Climate Disaster. Failure to honor the multinational Iran Nuclear Deal.
Tariffs. Tariffs on our neighbors' exports to us. Tariffs on Chinese components and goods (including by American multinational corporations.)
Treason? Foreign money from Russians. Money laundering. Aid to his election by Russians. Secret private conversations with Putin. Failure to protect US elections from foreign interference. Failure "to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Putin....
2
@JMT Americans blaming everything on Putin are naive. Percentage of illiteracy in the US currently? Percentage of people living in poverty in the US? Investments in school and education on a broad basis the last decades? Part of the reason the US has the problems it has now, has been in the making for years. The US used to be great. It no longer is. Americans gave us the Marshall help, and I am one of the generations who benefited from the assistance the US gave Norway. Now, more and more Norwegians start to see the USA as an increasingly irrelevant country.
What options do we have? Dems refuse a wall, won’t close the asylum loophole, create sanctuaries, downplay the problem and its deleterious impacts... bravo to Trump for trying.
1
How about sound economic policy?
@Peter
Perhaps he should have tried harder when Republicans held the House? Now, it is all for political showmanship.
@Chrisinauburn Agreed. But the sixty Senates votes weren't there back then, either...
Well, what do you expect from a man who would not pay his contractors, sue them for no reason, and try to get them to accept half the amount of the invoice as a gesture of generosity?
I bet, when he was a kid riding his bike and fell after a careless turn he would pick a fight with those standing around for distracting him by playing ball. He is constantly on the lookout for a loser at any cost.
3
Trump may be the "Tariff Man", but the voters in 2020 are going to be "Constitutional Man".
2
Taxes, Threats,Traditions, Tweets, Trade, Treaties, Tariffs, Treason?
Tax cut to buy the support and silence of the Top 0.1% and corporate "People." Add Trillions to the national debt.
Threats to NATO, our European allies, and partners in the World economy built on American leadership, political and economic values. Threats to political opponents and the press.
Breaking traditional rules of American governance, to faithfully execute the laws of the land. Selling weapons and nuclear technology to Middle Eastern countries without consent of Congress. Failure to follow the law in treatment of asylum seekers fleeing death and violence in Central America. Separating children from their families.
Tweets to incite violence, tweets to rule by Presidential edicts, tweets to lie, lie. lie.
Trade. Renounce NAFTA. Treat our largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada as economic enemies.Pull out of the TPT. Undermine the WTO.
Treaties. Withdraw from the Paris Accords to deal with Climate Disaster. Failure to honor the multinational Iran Nuclear Deal.
Tariffs. Tariffs on our neighbors' exports to us. Tariffs on Chinese components and goods (including by American multinational corporations.)
Treason? Foreign money from Russians. Money laundering. Aid to his election by Russians. Secret private conversations with Putin. Failure to protect US elections from foreign interference. Failure "to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Putin....
2
"Once again, rather than acting strategically, Mr. Trump is lashing out — and Americans will feel the pain."
And yet (The NYT started off this editorial with a conjunction) many in Trump's base will feel the pain and give Trump another attaboy. Until that changes we'll have all things Trump.
"Mr. Trump persists in the falsehood that tariffs are paid by America’s trading partners."
Can somebody please tweet to President Trump that it ain't so?
We are the ones paying for it!!!
1
Tariffs were generally used to protect native industries from lower cost goods made in other countries. Trump is damaging farmers in the US and then using tax payers money to subsidize those same farmers whose livelihood he put in jeopardy. This makes about as much sense as having Mexico build a border wall in the U.S. After all the howling of his mindless base that Mexico will pay for that wall - the citizens of this country end up paying in more ways than one. Remember the government shut down because of trump's snit over the wall. For someone who is making all these demands on U.S. citizens trump STILL produces his brand name goods overseas so he can save paying American workers' wages. This man is a national threat to the U.S. and I wish for once, the republican party opens it's blind eyes to this very serious matter!
3
Tariffs were generally used to protect native industries from lower cost goods made in other countries. Trump is damaging farmers in the US and then using tax payers money to subsidize those same farmers whose livelihood he put in jeopardy. This makes about as much sense as having Mexico build a border wall in the U.S. After all the howling of his mindless base that Mexico will pay for that wall - the citizens of this country end up paying in more ways than one. Remember the government shut down because of trump's snit over the wall. For someone who is making all these demands on U.S. citizens trump STILL produces his brand name goods overseas so he can save paying American workers' wages. This man is a national threat to the U.S. and I wish for once, the republican party opens it's blind eyes to this very serious matter!
1
It’s not about changing behavior. It’s about a political stunt that actually creates the problems he claims through immigration to mobilize his racist support networks and propaganda news network friends.
Obviously if he causes more issues and poverty crossings will increase. He is making the problem worse to galvanize everyone down their bigoted path.
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And Trump's systematic dismantling of our economy and western alliances continues. I've actually been amazed the economy has been as resilient as it has been under the malicious leadership of the bankruptcy king. But, if he keeps on bludgeoning it like this, he may well succeed in killing it before anyone will have the will to get him out of office. Trump's bizarre, anti-American, anti-Republican, anti-Truth behavior is still making Putin look like the best criminal mastermind we've ever seen.
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Really simple economics at work: Many car parts move across America’s borders several times while being assembled. Taxing them each time they cross re-enter the States is ludicrous. It’s a nightmare for the car industry and sticker shock for customers. If Trump wants to lose in 2020 he should stick to his benighted plan.
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@Ted Faraone Although Trump's fans will claim that any rise in prices should be blamed on Dems - possibly on Hillary Clinton and/or Obama.
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He has already lost. Expect more extreme measures as he lashes out to drive political support in his bigoted base.
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"Trade wars are good, and easy to win", Donald Trump, March 2nd, 2018
I don't think a Russian agent could have handled this any better - for Russia.
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Trump's understanding of economics can be summed up as...
"When all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail".
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Great editorial. Hopefully the rest of the media including FOX news will educate their listeners to the facts about tariffs and the multitude of immoral and illegal acts committed by Trump and his Senate republican cult.
American public is mostly ill-informed or not informed. American public basic education of civics and the law is weak. The press fails to explain in detail many of the illegal and immoral activities that The Con Man in Chief has committed. Trump's entire life consists of one criminal activity after another. The press continually fails to thoroughly explain the affects of The Con Man in Chief's activities on their pocketbook and daily lives. For example I would guess over 60 % do not realize that the costs of the tariffs (China Mexico) are passed onto to the consumer with higher prices and also to lower returns in the 401k.
Another subject requiring further details is obstruction of justice because the everyday non legal adult may brush off the term but if you explain and provide examples they say holy cow this Trump is a terrible criminal. T
The impeachment inquiry should start immediately so that all of the criminal activities committed by Trump and his enablers can be brought to the attention of the American public and it is not only the facts that are in the Mueller report but all thee other criminal acts committed by Trump including tax invasion, conspiracy with Russian , emoluments illegal with Saudi Arabia and the list goes on and on
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@libel If you did not see it, you should find the clip that played on MSNBC yesterday in which a Trump voter at Justin Amash's town hall was recorded saying that this was the first time she had heard that the Mueller report said anything negative about Trump. The first time. She simply thought (from listening to Fox, etc.) that it had exonerated him.
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@Rena
Proving the pure propaganda they are.
Trump's world view is stuck in the 19th century. There are good reasons why modern nations have moved on.
Worse, for ordinary Americans, we all pay the price for Trump's bluster. Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple.
King Trump has unilaterally raised taxes, again, while the so-called business-friendly, tax hating GOP gets behind the monarch.
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Under the Tariff Expansion Act, the president has authority to impose tariffs unilaterally only if “an article is being imported into the United States in such quantities or under such circumstances as to threaten or impair the national security.” Trump didn’t even try to make such a claim.
His invocation of “national security” is nothing more than a ploy to change the subject from Mueller’s statement yesterday giving lie to his claims of “total exoneration.” And even more than that, it is a shout-out to his base that he is not wavering on his and their priority of keeping those brown people from crossing our southern border into “their” country.
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Stable genius. Deal maker. Only HE can make these miracles happen. Only Congress can fix it.
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The Trump administration has proven that we need a few constitutional amendments ASAP. First of all, it seems that in this age of media and internet fame, the idea of competence as a requirement for presidential electability is gone. Therefore, we need a way to remove a president for gross incompetence.
The idea of impeaching the president seems to be tied up with proof of criminal activity. Yet even when criminal activity seems obvious, he is still protected by his party. And then we are also told a sitting president can’t be charged with a crime anyway!
The real reason he needs to be removed from office is his gross incompetence. It affects the entire world, and is creating profoundly dangerous situations. In any other sort of job, such an individual would be fired without hesitation.
If Trump cannot be removed from office for gross incompetence, the constitution must be amended so that he can be, and not be protected by his political party.
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He can be removed. It’s the republicans protecting him. They benefit as he draws attention. The Republican Party is doing a coup to control government for the next several decades. They have destroyed the leadership in nearly every organization and put in political motivated pure partisans who don’t care about ethics or science.
This country and the world is standing on a knife edge.
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Trump is using the tools in his Presidential tool box, while congress sits, complains and does nothing about our countries loss of border control. God Bless this President!
Tariff Tariff Tariff what ever it takes for these people (against legal immigration and for uncitizen citizens who continue to break laws) get the point and STOP IT!
@Mark Raymond
It is not illegal to seek asylum and the tariffs will not change the situation.
Furthermore, tariffs are a regressive tax. They will saddle most of their pain on the middle and lower class. In contrast, Trumps tax cuts were much more lucrative for the upper crust. Taken together, this is more republican wealth distribution from the bottom of the pyramid to the top.
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Besides using the strength of the American economy ("You didn't build that") as a weapon, to what extent does Trump, an economic ignoramus, see the tariffs as his ticket out of ballooning budget deficits? American taxpayers and companies may be paying them (erasing whatever gain, if there ever was any, from the 2017 Republican tax scam), but it would seem to help him patch the gap between his tax cuts for the richest 1% & corporations and his runaway spending.
Trump's bullying approach to foreign affairs, though, will backfire bigly.
Most immediately, though, it makes any country question the value of entering any treaty with US, including NAFTA 1.5 (USMCA).
And how is this even legal? Trump is again abusing his powers in using National Security as his excuse to violate the trade agreement. And the so-called "National Emergency" is of his own making.
Most significantly, NAFTA was put into place to help Mexico elevate its living standard in order to cut off the desperate need for people to migrate. It worked. Now the migration is coming from more desperate countries. The correct solution is to help build those countries, give them the resources to restore law-and-order (a joke now in the US).
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Tariffs are akin to cavemen’s clubs when it comes to changing the behavior of nations.They are like the hickory switch in the corner warning against misbehavior.They alter behavior but not necessarily for the better. They will not remake the exodus of desperate refugees.What they will do for certain is raise the prices Americans pay for things.They will discourage new job creation here.The American consumers who keep our economy afloat will spend less-that will slow down the economy-that is called a recession.Economists are already warning us that this will happen.Trump, take back your tariffs, and get creative with diplomacy-give some incentives instead of wielding a big stick.
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Lessons learned and lessons forgotten: the Smoot Hawley Tariff. The first lesson in my class in modern America was that tariffs are basically retaliatory and have done enormous damage. I remember when Trump was campaigning and mentioned tariffs. I thought there was a consensus in the business community on this issue. I hope we are about to relearn some very unpleasant lessons.
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My understanding was pretty simple. Trade wars can lead to real wars because of mass poverty and economic dysfunction.
This is the fault of Congress -
"The United States Constitution gives Congress the power to impose and collect taxes, tariffs, duties, and the like, and to regulate international commerce. While the Constitution gives the President authority to negotiate international agreements, it assigns him no specific power over international commerce and trade."
Congress could rectify this merely by not collecting the tariffs - which is in their Constitutional authority. If they can impose and collect - they can ignore and not collect.
The over-riding question is - why is Congress not acting?
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@Wilson1ny Congress does not collect tariffs. In fact no one in the United States does! Tariffs are paid by the American consumer, not by the country on which the tariffs have been imposed.
- tariffs increasing prices on middle America
- retaliatory tariffs cutting sales of products from middle America
- devastating floods and tornadoes across middle America
- Republicans blocking disaster relief
This is the Republican platform for 2020? It is hard to wait.
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This is what happens when you treat government as a business, and then hire as CEO the guy who couldn't make a profit from a casino.
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Trump has no idea what diplomacy is. His tool kit is tariffs, reflecting his deals from his failed business activities between 1985-1995, when he lost $1.2 Billion , relying on his impeccable gut feelings...
Tariffs may finally become his nemesis...good riddance!
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Tariffs won't solve these problems and will likely make things worse. And it could be worse. At least Trump is has not tried bombing countries to get his way.
"God's mills grind slowly, but exceedingly fine."
--- Longfellow
Three cheers for Mexico. They've been a long time recovering from the loss of Texas, so not paying for The Wall and this hopeless tariff war that Trump is launching should set them just about even.
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Beyond the fact that Trump uses his misguided concept of tariffs as a panacea for so many things... even if we assume this plan is a sound idea (and it sounds like anything but), what would success look like?
- Are there measurable, defined goals?
- How much would border traffic have to fall in order for the administration to confirm the measure was working?
- How quickly do these results need to occur in order to avoid the gradual increases?
- How many increments would there be between 10 and 25%?
I'd like to give Trump the benefit of the doubt that these details are forthcoming ... but I can't. If tariffs are to start in a mere 10 days, and if past is prelude, then we pretty much know that specifics haven't been worked out. Instead, as usual, he's fake-flexing his doughy muscles to smash the problem with a mallet, rather than identifying root causes and approaching potential solutions in targeted, surgical, and potentially effective ways.
Once again, he doesn't know what he doesn't know. And his advisors won't tell him that.
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What has Trump accomplished with all this? Look at the markets. The interest rate inversion just deepened this morning, a very ominous sign for the economy. (Article elsewhere in the NYT.) The stock market is tanking today. Remember the 1929 crash and depression, which was at least partly caused by a tariff war. Trump's final bankruptcy will be of us all. Having him and his henchmen behind bars will be of little comfort as we struggle just to eat. Bad times are a comin'!
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It’s easier to make Trump a Hollywood villain than face cognitive dissonance when he does something that makes sense.
Democrats want climate change action, but at the same time advocate exporting soy beans to China (and importing apples from New Zealand etc.).
Democrats want fair wages and more low skilled labor jobs, but at the same time support cheap imports from low wage countries.
The only true benefit of globalization is world peace through trade dependencies, but that only works when there’s a real threat of tariffs or embargoes. Trading freely with rogue players like China has been counterproductive. Regardless of motives, Trump is right on this.
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Because our corporations aren’t rogue players many times? Give me a break.
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@Liz
Thanks, Melania. Be Best.
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The editorial board fails to fully explore the realm of tariffs. Yes, Americans will pay more but understand we don't need Mexico to supply our country with goods. We have what we need in this country to supply our needs. Mexico is a low cost/wage country which we exploit to our advantage. Mexico, on the other hand, desperately needs trade dollars from the United States in order to finance their government, if trade with the US dries up, their economy goes bad, fast.
Trump has played nice with Mexico, renegotiating trade deals with them but Mexico has been reluctant to reciprocate by helping stop the march to our boarder. So we take the next and subsequent steps until the immigration crisis at our mutual boarder is resolved.
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Kurt, what you and most others that blindly follow the president fail to see are the longer term consequences. Just like playing chess, you have to see the moves that lie ahead. For example, what exactly do you think will happen when Mexico's economy gets decimated? Here's a clue: the situation at the border will become worse!
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Kurt, theoretically the US could sustain itself easily. You are right. However, that is just a mind game since most of your manufacturing abilities right now, as these tariffs are imposed, are nill. You don't even educate enough skilled workers to do everything on your own. And while you personally may have an income that will allow you to buy US manufactured (very expensive) goods, a significant number of your fellow Americans don't. They barely get by on cheap stuff from Mexico and China. What is your plan to address that very real issue? And would it not be smarter to FIRST fix US manufacturing and costs of labor BEFORE you kill any and all current models with no backup plan??
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@confounded
That’s exactly what they want. It’s a political stunt if their own making that his right wing propaganda and commenters that support him will justify extreme actions.
All republicans most be voted out of office from local to federal. Remove these autocrats!
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