A few days ago our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico found a huge locked warehouse full of food and water from the time of Hurricane Maria. After seeing this article and watching the impeachment case, I am wondering if Trump ordered that food withheld until Puerto Rico stopped criticizing Trump on television. It fits the same pattern of withholding his official actions, and violating Congressionally mandated aid, for his own personal satisfaction.
It is interesting that after the House voted to impeach, Trump suddenly was able to find a compromise with China on trade. Did they give him a quid for his quo?
I can never again trust anything he does.
After all, Mulvaney said, "We do it all the time.". Heaven help us.
64
@Cynthia
"We do it all the time."
Yeah, "get over it."
As to,"Did they give him a quid for his quo", It's an undisputable fact that he requested dirt on Biden from China as well.
11
This should come as a surprise to no one. This has always been Trump's way of doing business and as the record shows, Trump is a terrible businessman.
What ever happens to walk softly and carry a big stick?
Trump is a bull in a china shop and we are all going to get stuck with bill when all of the damages are tallied up.
8
The Congress has given the President discretion to make some decisions for all in order to facilitate execution of mutually agreed criteria. Trump’s judgment sucks and the Congress should take back responsibilities delegated to the President, now.
6
DJT is a con man. As a businessman he did salesmen's lying of the "My product is the Greatest Ever!" variety. (Sound familiar?) As a celebrity his fame was mostly based on his pretense to being a Billionaire. His name appeared on buildings worth billions, but he only owned some and licensed his name to many others. He used the common lie of claiming his total assets were his net wealth, overlooking the fact that his debts were close to or sometimes more than his net worth.
As a candidate he told about every imaginable lie about his opponents and what things threaten America, while presenting his lack of relevant experience as a main qualification. As president he lies about lying. He promised to fix everything. 3 years. Is America Great Now? That is what he promised. Not a bitterly divided nation trying to impeach its leader. He can't hide those lyin' eyes.
8
Whenever I read this kind of story, I remind myself that neither the Republican Party nor the president’s supports care. It really doesn’t matter any more.
5
Venezuela used to be the wealthiest country in south america. Then their leaders became not socialists as trump trumpets but crony capitalists - exactly what trump is doing now. We all should know how this ends....
12
Welcome to Soviet-style economic policy provided by Trump. He has made harmful populist policies sound good to the common man, even though they are not. Globalism is America First, and this painfully ignorant man still has not learned that. Average GDP annual growth since World War II is 3.1% and Trump has never achieved that, despite his foolish tax cut. He’s just an accomplished and amoral conman.
6
My sense is the emphasis on the President actually misses the mark which is much larger than the bullseye, c'est Trump.
His reelection coffers overflow with cash as his rallies overflow with rabid followers, none of whom appear concerned with just how he is picking their pockets and bankrupting our nation while he fattens his and his wealthy backers wallets.
It appears our citizenry is as frighteningly dumb and our politicos as morally corrupt as our Anglo Saxon counterparts across the pond.
Greta Thunberg is only one of the billions of youth who will look back at this time and rue our ignorance.
5
I shutter to think how much worse we will be if this unfit, unstable,
incompetent gets another 4 years!
Please wake up voters!
6
It comes back to "WWVW" What Would Vladimir Want? As noted in a Times headline about upcoming Russian election interference, "Chaos is the Objective". This is hard for a journalist and especially an economics journalist to get his/her head around -- for these people everything must have a rational explanation, right? However the objective here is tearing down the Free World, and confusion and acrimony are the best tools for the job.
5
So the House of Representatives should impeach him again.
For that.
8
He is totally clueless about everything related to his job. The cost of living keeps rising and now he says he won't authorize entitlement raises. There is a huge part of the population who live ( actually exist ) on their benefits. Is there anything he won't do to destroy the lives of those who are in their supposedly golden years. Meanwhile he spends millions of dollars on each trip he makes to maro-largo and we all know how important that is. All you naive citizens out there, wake up!
7
Coming Home to Trump
Get loaded now the future seems stark
Cause Donald will get off, not leave a mark
On his complexion or his demeanor –
A contrary thinker – oh, what a dreamer;
Pocketbook issues on which the Dems founder
Will drive up his vote though Trump is a bounder
Who, just short of rape will ruin us all,
Country wide victims – we’re taking the fall;
But, here’s the thing, it’s pocketbook issues
Will drive us to Trump, no sniffles or tissues
Or crocodile tears as we add to our pile -
Regrets will come later, but not for a while.
Just add it to the list...but, his Republican lackeys could care less.
5
Ahhh, Mr. Krugman, you know that “L’etat, c’est moi” is Trump’s motivation for everything. There are no laws for him. He probably denies the law of gravity just on principle. I purchased “A Very Stable Genius” and may purchase several more digital copies for myself. I intend to make it a national best seller. Senators deny their oaths and won’t register the majority of American’s displeasure with the destroyer of the Constitution and separation of powers so I’m fighting back in the only arena Trump and the Trumpers understand: commerce and money. Speaking against the fraudster-mobster in Chief and his capos is a waste of breath but not column space—it does motivate and raise the spirits of people of good conscience when you write your opinions. So, keep up the good work!
9
January 24, 2020
Next examination of Pres Trump is -
Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Amendment to the United States Constitution dealing with issues related to presidential succession and disability
The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with issues related to presidential succession and disability.
en.wikipedia.org
JJA
1
Presidential corruption is aided by the corrupt Republican Party.
6
What about section 301?
If I have a way to give "thumbs up" here, I would give you 5
2
Tariffs are just one more place where Trump is infinitely ignorant, and knows nothing except how to take care of his own interests - or act on his own delusions and impulses.
The horror is... there doesn’t seem to be a darn thing we can do about it. Courts are silent, Democrats are timid and feckless, while Republicans are seditious, treasonous oath breakers.
God help us!
5
Balderdash! Trumps got trade right, one of the few things. He is the only president with the nerve to stand up to unfair trade policies that have raped the American manufacturing belt. The economy is all one needs to see the Proof positive. I totally support his trade tariffs. Give credit where credit is due or you end up with no credit yourself.
L'état, c'est moi means “I myself am the nation.”
2
What is most frightening is Trump doesn't have the brains to be the engineer of the runaway train the US is currently on. He is a passenger or while self interested cabinet members and golf club members define US policy, along with help from Netanyahu, the Saudi Prince, Putin and Rupert Murdoch. Trump blows their whistle.
3
People need to understand the difference between disagreeing with the President’s policies and constantly attacking them as illegal. Trouble is, liberals can’t admit the possibility that there may be a different, but legitimate, way to look at things, so necessarily, anything that deviates from liberal orthodoxy must be either criminal, stupid or both.
2
Mr.Krugman—Mr.Trump is the President! Repeat after me, Mr. Trump is —-
trump is just plain dodgy. Not only is he unreliable and dishonest as the definition says but he dodges all attempts to show what he is really doing. Reports not filed, taxes never revealed, paperwork redacted to blank pages. Is he really Donald J Trump or some imposter, a dodgy imposter. he was all over Obama about a birth certificate, I want to see fingerprints for this dodgy imposter. If he really is Donald J
Trump then I want to see proof. If he really is who says he is he is still an imposter, a fake, a fraud, a charlatan posing as the President and doing a very poor job of it.
3
Better yet "apres moi, la deluge".
The Democrats can now be seen as the pro-China party. They are the enemy of America.
1
Tariffs are taxes and China does not pay them. Where the heck is Grover Norquist? He must be under a rock someplace. Why is Grover and his "no new taxes" pledge signing Republican pals making an exceptions for Trump's tariffs?
Republicans speak out. Do you want us to think you and Grover are a bunch of hypocrites?
1
It occurs to me that Trump's supporters are behind the curve regarding our alignment with other nations. When they think about visiting another country, they think like other Americans: Canada and Mexico first; then Britain and the nations of western Europe. Not Russia. Not Saudi Arabia. Not North Korea. Get with the program, MAGAs!
8
Dear Paul, you forgot to mention the sordid tale about how Trump tried to extort the EU, using auto tariffs as a threat, in order to get them to say Iran violated the nuclear agreement.
6
Trump time and again displays his ignorance in foreign trade, economics and commerce in general.Perhaps his ignorance extends as well to the law. At any rate his advisors should be keeping him within legal boundaries. Since this is not happening it makes the Republican staff and indeed the whole party in violation. The problem we have is that this has never happened before to such an extent. Our forefathers never imagined a menace to our democracy like Trump.
7
Over here in the UK many of us think that Trump isn't really doing any of this as he has no grasp of the issues. Sure he signs the documents but other people are responsible for the agenda. They are the truly dangerous - I guess they are the rich donors and the Bannon types - so who's really pulling the strings?
6
I never thought Trump had any kind of strategy as president. I am however inclined to believe that this is incorrect. He seems to be driven by 2 things:
1) Settling personal scores (remember him being put in his place by Ms Merkel)
2) Profiting from the presidency
The man is deeply corrupt and completely unfit for the office. He is also predictable in his actions if you take into account what drives him.
And so is the GOP. No matter how bad it gets, they are there to protect their man in the White House instead of the constitution.
It's beyond shameful and I sincerely hope that they all are voted into oblivion coming November.
9
Trump not only abuses tariffs and foreign leaders regarding election advantages. This guy abuses women, the rule of law, minorities, children, veterans, we can go on and on.
It is time for our Senate to return to a modicum of morality and honesty, acting to remove Trump from office, immediately.
7
I have lost all trust in government and the media. Who is looking out for us average Americans?
3
trump is a one trick pony and his one trick is extortion. Hence the threat to impose tariffs.
3
Are the Democrats abusing the American public with their political antics?
Why can't the Democrats focus on winning the Presidential election in November?
Why are the Democrats Presidential offerings so weak?
Is there no one left in Democratic Party who can light a fire?
1
Trump knows that tariffs punish Americans, despite his claims that our trading partners foot the bill. So think for a minute about which Americans he wants to punish with auto tariffs. Drive around my neighborhood in Northern California and you will find that Prius cars, BMWs and soccer mom vans from Honda and Toyota are dominant, with Tesla cars quickly catching up. Trump has a demonstrable hatred of coastal California (to be fair, it’s mutual) and a strong desire to make us pay more at the pump to drive inefficient vehicles, breath polluted air and either burn up or lose our shoreline or both as the climate warms. So while he no doubt wants to beat up on Japan and Germany to make them pay more for the privilege of providing their land for US military bases, he is also happy to beat up on California for having the gall to find him and his policies abhorrent.
3
"l’état, c’est Trump" well describes the operating principles of Trump's White House...because Trump shares with Louis XIV not only the desire to 'exercise absolute power, unrivaled by nobles or a legislative branch of government', but also to rule for all his live long days. Trump is no 'Sun King' as Australian wags like to refer to Rupert Murdoch, nor is he likely to rule unchallenged for seven decades (like Louis le Grande or six in the case of Murdoch - thank God) Supporters of the American wanna-be 'Sun King' should note that Louis' rule set the groundwork for the financial collapse of France which led to The French Revolution. You nailed it in three foreign words Professor K. Well done. Hope you are wrong - afraid you are right.
It's time for the Senate to sharpen the guillotine.
2
L'état, c'est moi translates as “I am the state.” Yes, this is what Trump believes in. As he mentioned before : "I am the choosen one" and Trump's loyal followers, his ilk and Republican Senators seem to firmly believe in that, Trump's" motto, regardless on how it affects this country and the rest of ordinary Americans.
2
Trump does everything in response to requests from his type of power people. For example, he promoted coal and withdrew from the Paris Agreement cause coal thug Murray told him to. Likewise, for removing safety requirements for Gulf oil rigs, from oil train requirements, national park protections etc. So, likely Trump is pushing auto-import tariffs for the American car makers cause one or more of them will give him something big in return for the help. So, start looking for which one of them is a Mar-a-Lago member, is fat and crass, and has a young escort as a girlfirend and the mystery will be solved.
3
Trump is a demagogue, and a clear example of the reasons for the founding fathers concern with demagoguery. Trump's decisions are about being popular not about good governance, and therefore we have endless examples of decisions that are absent intelligence, consistency or trustworthiness.
1
I really thought that we fought the Revolutionary War to depose a King. And now some 231 years later, we are creating another one..with the Republican party’s help. My Republican in-laws must be rolling over in their graves!
3
What isn't Trump abusing? He complained constantly about Obama's use of executive orders. He claimed it bi-passed the will of the people by bi-passing Congress. He uses executive orders on any whim that jumps into his aging brain. Maybe if his doctor would treat his night-time need to get up at 3:00am he would stop tweeting these abuses of power.
2
@novoad - So reassuring to read Krugman's expert economic opinion since Trump & his GOP sycophants do nothing but gaslight the public. Especially how Trump is some type of economic Houdini as he brags at Davos. The truth is that Trump is an expert in manipulating people's perception (even if lies) through spinning fantasies in the media. If he can arm twist all of the GOP party & use his Fox propaganda wing to distort the truth, then he wins the perception war. His followers (& Wall St.) don't want to hear the real truth but only sugar coated fantasies that Trump spins so masterfully about how the economy is so great under his leadership. On the one hand he rails against NAFTA & the selling out of America's good paying jobs & then turns around & only tinkers with the old trade agreement & repackages it as the greatest trade deal since sliced bread. The latest Phase One "deal" only came about quickly before he was going to impose new tariffs (consumer taxes) on Chinese imports prior to Christmas which would've hurt the economy even further & risk his re-election chances in 2020. Then he has the Chinese supposedly agree to billions in Ag. purchases w/o any penalties if they don't. He just spins the content to seem as if he & his "supporters" are really "winning." I'm tired of all this faux winning w/o ever seeing any results to my pocketbook. Tired of being played like a pawn in his Presidential grifter game. Tired of being lied to over & over again w/o accountability.
4
Most of what you write seems true. The auto tariffs may be partly based on the justification that a diminished manufacturing base in the auto industry is a threat to the nation's economic security, which is an integral part of the overall national security. Though this reasoning seems somewhat attenuated, there may be some truth in it as well, although may be not a legally sufficient amount to support imposition of tariffs.
1
Why don't people understand it. Trump didn't cut your taxes. Republicans did. That's the ONLY thing driving this recovery.
1
Trump is paying for votes (subsidies to his base while imposing tariffs that punish the coasts) pure and simple. it's a new form of "welfare" and the Trump base needs to get off it and return to the mainstream or face increasing marginalization in the future given US demographic trends. only thing holding it together is antiquated electoral college.
2
What harmed the economy in 2019?
As the Democrats took over the House with their 90% "marginal" tax rate ideas, the stock market tanked $5.5 trillion, consumer confidence plunged ten points and business investment, on a $55 billion per quarter growth trend, collapsed $45 billion.
We are still recovering from that economic bomb crater.
1
Don’t confuse the economy with the stock market.
12
Doesn't a large part of the tariff abuse (along with all the other abuses) fall on the Senate's lack of oversight?
5
I'm still waiting for the Middle-class Tax Cut that Trump promised in October 2018. In fact right up to the elections it was going to happen in just a few days. I guess he broke his promise to us.
6
Trump has only two economic answers for monetary issues: tax cuts and tariffs. They are two sides of the same coin, as tax cuts have been mostly for the wealthy and tariffs hurt the middle class and poor. Trump's refusal to admit publicly that tariffs harm the economy, while he berates the Fed for not cutting interest rates further, is part of the reason why the economy is slowing.
7
One troubling observation from my years in politics was that corruptive forces both external and internal to government are always at play.
Another troubling observation was that a little more than half of voters seemed OK with the corruption. Election after election, voters elected candidates knowing that the elected would in some way use the office for gain either personal or to benefit cronies or friends. I came to understand that some voters are just OK with a corrupt political system so long as they also gain something from it all or at least believe they. In a sick, twisted way, it is a form of quid pro quo between the willfully-blind voters and the morally-bankrupt elected.
The tariff abuses are just another result of the corruptive forces at play, the voters OK with corruption, and the corrupt officials OK with advancing the gains of the corrupted.
5
This column illustrates just one more example of Trump's ignorance of most things governmental. What good are advisers when he and he alone knows all the answers. His refusal to listen to experts are causing other countries to lose faith in the wisdom of the United States and in our capacity to make decisions that benefit not only us but our allies also. Chaos and catastrophe follow him wherever he goes.
8
Dr. Krugman attributes too much far-sightedness to Trump by stating that the tariffs are meant to revive American manufacturing. These tariffs, like the investigation into the Bidens, are meant to gain votes in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
12
How about that deal he made with China last week? It was a give-away. And why? Because he wants their help in the 2020 election. He uses these economic wars to keep countries in line, to make them work for him and his own political and economic interests.
9
This also casts light on why Trump genuinely believes (I think) that he did nothing wrong in extorting political assistance from a foreign country. He truly cannot see the country's interests as separate from his own. Sadly, just because something is good for Trump does not mean it is good for the US -- often quite the contrary.
9
Krugman has it nailed. Tariffs certainly didn't work for Herbert Hoover and they won't work for Trump. Beyond that, tariffs should be approved by congress. Trump taking off on his own throwing tariffs around without any justification is more abuse of power.
11
So a president threatening tariffs with no legal basis is not a high crime or (high) misdemeanor? And withholding any documentation that would justify those tariffs is not obstruction?
14
Putin approves.
5
Trump already threatened Europe with auto tariffs in order to get them to activate the formal dispute mechanism in the Iran Nuclear deal. And it worked, although England, Germany and France would never admit that they triggered the mechanism due to U.S. pressure (just as the Ukraine government was never going to admit there was a quid pro quo).
These are the depths to which American foreign policy has sunk: No longer do we win the hearts and minds of our allies (let alone our enemies), we blackmail them into doing what we want. This abuse of power is misguided on so many levels and contrary to America's long-term interests in the world. Of course other countries are encouraged to do the same, put might before right and pursue their own short-sighted interests. This foreign policy by bullying was not certainly what Roosevelt meant when he coined the term 'bully pulpit', but sadly it has become the new American way.
5
Isn't it odd and perhaps alarming that the body Republicanite is willing to accept this unlawful behavior for some reason. Are the Senators convinced that Trump is right about making the US a gated community, self sufficient and apart from the world? or whatever his view is? Clearly, he wants more desperately to win reelection to reaffirm his ego of his superiority, than to address the needs of all Americans (gut Obamacare, reduce Social Security and Medicare to reduce deficit spending, for ? more tax cuts to wealthy business interests?).
But seriously, what do they want? perpetual control of our government, courts and legislature by the plutocrats? Why would that be ideal? Is it just parochial, sophomoric "winning" with no higher purpose or something else that more opaque?
4
If Trump is allowed to continue with his scofflaw behavior, and Republicans show that they continue to approve of his behavior, then Republicans will not have a leg to stand on should a Democrat come into the White House and do exactly the same thing. We wouldn't, but it will provide insulation against much milder actions that should still be beyond the pale.
Normalizing corruption is a bad idea, but right now it's what we have to fight against in DC.
3
Paul,
The Democrats are trying to remove Trump on the basis of "abuse of power". But from the Republicans we get, you need an actual crime to impeach and remove. (This, of course, is disputed by Constitutional scholars.)
Well, here it is. An action that is both an abuse of power AND a crime.
2
If the Senate is going to allow Trump to do whatever he wants, he is going to do things that are illegal because he is a corrupt person to his core and apparently the Republican Party is corrupt to its core. The worst abuse of Trumps tariffs Is his abuse of exemptions which he doles out to his privileged accomplices in return for lucrative favors.
2
The idiocy in Trump's thinking over tariffs is breathtaking, especially over German automobiles. Approximately fifty thousand Americans work in auto plants here in the US owned by German manufacturers. All of them are strong enough financially to offer Trump an ultimatum to test how serious Trump is over this nonexistent problem - each percentage point of a tariff increase would amount to a one week shut down in a domestic auto facility here. A fifteen per cent tariff would amount to a four month closing. That's four months of lost wages and economic damage to suppliers. Trump is a fool, and there's no better way to prove it than bread and butter. We'll see how fast Trump walks it back.
5
So Putin continues to win. Trump's gift to Putin as president: allies alienated, debt so high we cannot wage future wars, unsecure pharma drugs manufactured overseas, an unhealthy population lacking healthcare and doing illicit drugs, meat less safe to eat, fresh water to be polluted, science and invention stifled, internal terrorists armed to the teeth, no response to global warming, etc.
Corruption dominates the GOP's every action at this point when sheer stupidity doesn't. So yeah, tariffs as one part of contempt for rule of law. Even the legal actions are contempt for protecting the country.
4
Donald Trump is not smart enough to devise a strong national economy. The strength of the current economy is just a carryover from efforts by President Obama who had to save it from the follies of the George Bush administration.
2
Gerald Ford, upon assuming the Presidency after Nixon resigned said, "Our long national nightmare is over". Little did he know that someone would come along that made Nixon look like a choir boy. The Donald's transgressions well may number in the thousands, not at all unlike the number of lies he continues to tell. And all of it gets swallowed, hook line and sinker by what used to be called the Party of Lincoln. Not anymore. It's the Party of Trump, and not a single American voter should forget that. The trial currently underway in the Senate is the final act of submission by Senate Republicans, then it's OUR turn. November 3, 2020.
4
Ideals are great! But when diabolical forces like ISIS stare at you, idealism won't save you, you need to take practical and preemptive measures like travel ban, killing of terrorist masterminds, etc. to save idealism. Low tariff or no tariff is great! But when others take advantage of trade deals to wipe out our manufacturing base and to dominate us, you need to strike back to crate a level playing field. It is without any question a national security issue. China had a nefarious plan to dominate the world within a short period by dominating all major industries in which America is the leader now. So, Trump took action and got a deal. When Mexico allowed to use its territory for illegals to come to this country, Trump threatened with tariff and problem almost solved. Krugman may not like Trump and his actions, but Trump saved our life and well being by taking some simple and practical measures without sacrificing any idealism.
2
@Alex K Your manufacturing base was wiped out by the American corporations who have off shored production steadily for at least a decade. The same corporations will bring manufacturing back once American workers are so desperate that they will work for the same wage as an off shore worker.
4
“Simple and practical?” How about illegal and immoral?
He really wants to be what he has always been: a bully in charge of things with the ability to beat, buy, and/or bully any political adversary. That is all he knows, so when he moved into the Oval Office, his tactics were the same. Plus he hired like-minded sycophants to enact his corrupt views with the not-inconsiderable help from a hyper-politicized bunch of elected Republicans led by a Leader who is, himself, not much more than a lapdog.
Other countries call leaders like that "dictators."
6
Using is not abusing. President Trump is achieving results for the American people on these tariff matters. Wrong way Paul has erred, again, honestly how does he keep his job he has been wrong on so many calls since President Trump’s election?
2
Trump’s interest is not in the well-being of the US. It’s in its destruction. He is a foreign asset, a chaos agent. Everything he’s done in office, everything without exception, has diminished us materially or reputationally. He doesn’t “believe” tariffs are good economic policy. He’s incapable of analysis.
Yes, but the question is "What underlies this behavior?" Is it capricious whim, or does someone benefit?
Mr Trump is not a thinker, excluding his feral savvy at judging other people and using them as promotional pawns. (I have come to agree that he remarks about getting away with a violent crime on 5th Ave is completely accurate.)
So we come to: what does Wilbur want and/or who is Wilbur working for? Ditto the rest of this illustrious cabinet.
Trump abuses and corrupts everything he touches. And anyone who thinks our deficit topping a trillion is good for the U.S. economy must also believe that China is paying those tariffs. Our 401ks won't be worth the paper they're printed on when Trump's Ponzi scheme finally collapses the stock market index.
5
Thanks for bringing this to the public attention.
One more reason to remove him as furthers the argument that 45 thinks he is The King.
1
The motivations are much more simple minded with Trump. He uses it to try to sound tough to his under educated supporters. Blah blah attack other country blah blah wave the flag blah blah. Or tweet tweet. Behind him the likes of Navarro, Ross Munchkin and others wheel and deal market manipulations behind any tweet or anticipated announcement (tweeted or otherwise) related to tariffs which now have obviously predictable results on the market. All the financial records for all of these cabinet members, as well as the immediate family members of Trump and Kushner, need to be exposed - both before being in their office and now - and to track stock purchase and sales and income fluctuations across that time. And then ready the indictments for the ultimate charges of insider trading.
1
The problem with autocrats, something Trump yearns to be, is that they don’t “make the trains run on time,” they merely silence the people who say anything about poor adherence to train schedules.
4
Paul Krugman has been wrong about every prediction he's made regarding POTUS. Nothing has collapsed and we have the most vibrant resilient economy in our history.
2
To all the commentators saying that our economy is great under Trump:
1. The deficit is 1 Trillion dollars
2. The national debt has skyrocketed
3. Unemployment is low, but wages have stagnated. Many people can’t live on the wages they make in one full time job. People working full time live in their cars and are eligible for food stamps
4. Most Americans can not come up with $500 to pay for an unexpected expense
5. Most Americans have only $11,000 saved up for retirement
6. Childhood poverty has increased under Trump
7. Homelessness has increased under Trump. His administration has done nothing to make housing more affordable. HUD is run by a neurosurgeon.
8. Young people graduate from college in debt with a degree which will not get them a job anywhere but Starbucks
9. Consumer bankruptcies have increased largely due to debts arising from unaffordable healthcare
The only bright side in the economic front is the stock market, which has been on a roll for the longest period ever without a recession. Trump is doing his best to shut off this light by his sowing political uncertainty (Sulemani’s assassination) and enacting off the cuff tariffs, which as Mr. Friedman so ably explains, violate US law. The present day economy has only benefitted the rich (people worth $5 million or more). The rich are not Trump’s base. His base has been hurt by his economic mismanagement.
Historically, presidents get re-elected if the economy is good. “Are you better off under Trump.”
4
Hey, Trump has a valid point about national security, but with respect to toys, not cars:
https://silverberg-on-meltdown-economics.blogspot.com/2018/06/trump-trade-war-toying-with-national.html
On a more serious note, instead of being impeached he should be tried for crimes against humanity for withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. Climate change denial is no longer a laughing matter.
1
Tariffs? I do what I want.
Foreign policy? I do what I want.
Women? I do what I want.
Environmental protections? I do what I want.
Wall funding? I do what I want.
Charitable funds? I do what I want.
War crimes? I do what I want.
Press conferences? I do what I want.
Campaigning? I do what I want.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
4
Trump is a pre-Enlightenment King. Shocking that we would ever want to revert to the middle ages and the divine right of kings.
1
We are about to witness just who does accept Trump’s actions. Let us never forget who they are.
3
So there's Trump's extraordinary academic achievement, his kindness to contractors and workers, his payoff to silence a porn star, his use of his charity as a personal wallet, those hunky portraits, his success as a billionaire with a little help from daddy, his cabinet quitting or getting fired, his associates in jail, his abandoning the Kurds, his pulling out from sound environmental policies, his obstruction of Congress, the Ukrainian blackmailing, AND his reckless use of tariffs. What's a little contempt for the rule of law?
"Just a beautiful day in the neighborhood... I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like" him.
3
Today, I had to replace my car's broken glass windshield. The auto glass shop owner told me that most replacement auto glass sold in the USA today comes from China, and as a result of Trump's tariffs, the price has spiked. Windshields that used to cost $250 are now going for $350, he told me. Although Trump falsely asserts that China is paying the cost for his tariff wars, the truth is that I was the one who had to pick up the tab for the extra $100. Now consider that this is happening in myriad sectors of our economy. Trump's tariff war is really a tax on the American public.
8
Trump has no "decision process" so expecting to find documentation of the non-existent is silly.
Trade war? Do you not understand that we fat, dumb, and lazy Americans have been in a trade war for decades, but we just didn't realize it? We have been and only a desperate hatred of Trump could lead one to deny it.
I don't think that Trump has been very strategic in his approach, but that is a quibble. We should always seek allies, but too many of our "alliances" have been give and take: we give and they take. On defense responsibilities our allies have been more than happy to rely on us, which is not all bad because it has given the world this: https://www.vox.com/2015/6/23/8832311/war-casualties-600-years
On intellectual property, forced technology transfers, and open markets the PRC government has damaged our future prospects.
It is so easy to hate Trump that quarelling with everything he does comes naturally and feels good. But consider this: a lot of much smarter people over the past couple of decades could have made all of this irrelevant, but they didn't.
1
Sir, WE still call it "The Free World"; we just question whether you are a member. (As for "leader", well, "Leaders" are those whom others follow. Who followed you into Iraq?)
I have to get my real news from The Intercept these days. The (dreaded, unpublishable-here) Noam Chomsky just casually remarked in passing, answering another question, that the US would not qualify for EU membership, because it isn't democratic enough.
It's not just the Senate, and consequent electoral college; it's that states have this broad latitude to invent their own electoral procedures; all that voter-suppression and gerrymandering that you struggle with is not even an issue in most of the "Free World".
Bush v. Gore confirmed that Florida could just do anything it wanted, practically: throw 80,000 off the voter rolls before the election, ignore a recount, whatever; it was Jeb Bush's call how "Florida voted" in the EC. (A year later, the TImes and other papers said they'd done the recount and Bush did win....except he won the 4 counties sued over in B v G...he lost the overall state recount. Gore would have won in any "Free World" federal election.)
Only worse with SCOTUS decisions since, and ALL of your governance problems -corruption, wars, illegal surveillance, torture...stem from that lack of democracy. You aren't free enough.
There's still a Free World though.
The man in the White House operates on the principle that l’état, c’est Trump. It’s a principle nobody who believes in American ideals should accept.
Except the GOP and 40% of the American population do.
L'etat? What etat? Donald Trump appears to think that there's been a merger between the Trump Organization and the U.S. government, with himself as CEO of both.
It would be nice to see some mention of the section 301 tariffs that the administration is unilaterally imposing on 6500 wine importers and 47000 wine retail stores. We are a coalition of businesses lobbying against this potential loss of businesses and jobs. Very few economists are writing about section 301. What would it take for you to do so?
1
One of the first things they teach you in any half-decent business school is that tariffs are bad. Plain and simple. Tariffs have the effect of distorting markets, of "picking winners" artificially. Tariffs end up increasing consumer prices and reducing market efficiency, by protecting products or industries which are not competitive or whose products are sub-standard or obsolete.
The example of cars is poignant. American cars do not face any tariffs in Europe. Yet we hardly see any on the roads here. If Cadillacs are really as good as Mercedes, Audi and BMW, why does a company with the enormous resources of GM fail to sell more than a few thousand cars per year to a bunch of oddball enthusiasts? Apart from Jeep (which is owned by an Italian company), no American-designed cars have enjoyed any commercial success on European markets in my lifetime (niche products like muscle cars are appreciated here, but sell in tiny numbers).
So imposing tariffs on European cars is like telling American consumers "you are forced to buy domestic products, even if they are inferior" while telling manufacturers "you can keep on building inferior cars, because Uncle Sam will protect you". This is Soviet Union-style economics and the antithesis of a free market. Funny how Republicans always conveniently ignore free market principles when it suits the interests of their corporate donors.
2
One of the first things they teach you in any half-decent business school is that tariffs are bad. Plain and simple. Tariffs have the effect of distorting markets, of "picking winners" artificially. Tariffs end up increasing consumer prices and reducing market efficiency, by protecting products or industries which are not competitive or whose products are sub-standard or obsolete.
The example of cars is poignant. American cars do not face any tariffs in Europe. Yet we hardly see any on the roads here. If Cadillacs are really as good as Mercedes, Audi and BMW, why does a company with the enormous resources of GM fail to sell more than a few thousand cars per year to a bunch of oddball enthusiasts? Apart from Jeep (which is owned by an Italian company), no American-designed cars have enjoyed any commercial success on European markets in my lifetime (niche products like muscle cars are appreciated here, but sell in tiny numbers).
So imposing tariffs on European cars is like telling American consumers "you are forced to buy domestic products, even if they are inferior" while telling manufacturers "you can keep on building inferior cars, because Uncle Sam will protect you". This is Soviet Union-style economics and the antithesis of a free market. Funny how Republicans always conveniently ignore free market principles when it suits the interests of their corporate donors.
1
I would surmise that massive deregulation that will have long term deleterious effects, nonetheless, buoy investors in the short term. Thus, the economy hums along like a train that in the not too distant future runs out of track as all the most critical things we rely on our government for, safe food to eat, secure power grids, air we can breathe, water we can drink, fail us. But, hey, the stock market is glowing and, by then, Trump will be back in his Tower counting his emolument haul.
2
Paul Krugman laments that we lost European as allies because of Trump’s tariff approach. For the decades the US had had terrible trade balances. The US trade “beneficiaries” the upper 1 percent having strong influence by the lobbists on the US government did not care that our economy was in decline or we become dependent on totalitarian regime such as China. China had played it smartly pretending being a friendly nation and downplaying the fact that they are by definition a totalitarian regime. While many US companies invested huge amount of money there China requested mandatory technology transfer. Recently their leader became a dictator. In small steps China had continued to become a clear a threat to the western world. In spite of calling themselves the US allies the Europeans traded with Russia against whom we have been defending them since WWII. When Russia invaded Crimea we learned that our European allies kept selling to Putin sophisticated weapons and France was caught building three warships for Russia at that time. President Obama had to exert significant pressure to stop France from selling the warship.The EU especially Germany had developed a cozy relationship with China that become wealthy through the trade with the US.The truth is that Europeans does not care about totalitarian China or Russia and they would be happy to trade with totalitarian Iran not caring if they have nuclear weapons or that the Iranian young people wish to live in a democratic country.
If the auto industry disappeared from the US would that weaken security? It is an important part of heavy industry that can be diverted to military production, which is what happened in WW II as domestic car production was put on hiatus. One reason the American car industry still exists is because of deliberate federal protection. When Japan began to make inroads they were forced to limit imports and move some production to this country. Both Chrysler and General Motors have now been bailed out when they were in difficulty. Of course other countries do not hesitate to aid their own car industries.
A real security threat is probably not important to Trump, but this does illustrate how there is really no such thing as "free trade" internationally. What must be realized is that national interests are not identical to the maximization of profits by international capitalists. Those interests include the welfare of workers as well as security.
Krugman is probably right that Trump's tariffs are a means of compelling support for his foreign policy, but such moves are also a means of displaying at least ostensible support for American workers. The voters who are actually affected by globalization are probably not impressed by economists' arguments on the basis of comparative advantage. International trade may still be an issue that favors Trump if Democrats and economists do not show that they have plans to reverse the harm that globalization has done to American workers.
Good to read this week's edition of TDS. Section 232 allows for tariffs for several reasons, including foreign subsidies, not just security reasons. So yes, if foreign governments are giving subsidies to their home industries as many of our trading partners have over the years to protect their national champions, tariffs are justified through presidential action. Please write more however on how the tariffs so far have crippled our growth, caused our GDP to contract, and devastated our work force leading to increasing unemployment as you predicted along with recession and a terrible stock market. Your column is important for readers to be exposed to so that the resistance to Trump can continue, Never Trump, no matter what the facts show is an important flag to rally behind, Magna est Krugmanomics, et Praevalet.
1
Minor technicalities include the fact that Trump specifically invoked national security, not these “other provisions.” Oh, and we also heavily subsidize various corporations, not least with the latest humongous tax cuts.
But while we’re on the subject of this TDS thing, has it ever occurred that a complete inability to make an honest case, based on fact and without snotty personal attacks, is a pretty clear symptom? That the endless repetition of whatever was on Hannity this week suggests a cognitive deficit of an important sort?
2
Thanks for posting that fast; I forgot to note that Sec. 232 is entirely about national security, and nothing else. Look it up.
Washington has mostly seen Europe as a competitor. In this vein, the more sticks that get thrown to the European machinery, the better.
And Washington only respects power. Europe needs its own credible defense and nuclear deterrence. Shortly we will be down to the French nukes.
Paul Krugman's assessment is trenchant as always.
Why are the politicians not speaking loud and clear on this? Surely they would have the backing of business interests as well as workers on the negative impacts, near and further in the future? It is the disguise of the so-called booming economy that may make this harder for the average person to discern.
This would seem to be another impeachable offense and one that traditional Republicans would have yelled about in the past. Why are the Republicans, much less the Democrats, failing to yell about illegally imposed tariffs? It is an issue of institutional integrity.
2
There is only one true Trump Doctrine, and it explains both foreign and domestic policy. Trump said it himself: "The Saudis pay cash."
3
There is something far larger and far more dangerous going on here. If trump is not a Manchurian candidate, he couldn't be harming us and the free world more. Normally this would be a follow the money trail. Certainly, this is a job for the Fourth Estate, that trump fears and therefore has classified as everything else that could harm him as fake.
There is also so much obstruction and so much misdirection it is difficult to see the truth, but something is going on with trump and Russia. Trump as surrounded himself with the clown-car of self-enriching sycophants. The Republicans have totally lost their moral compass as well, so their lack of reality to the current situation is damming. They are so busy sticking their fingers in the holes of this leaking dam that the deluge will be enormous and take much of the free world with it.
6
This article reveals aspects of how wide and far the president will go to get what HE wants at the expense of everyone and every nation on the planet.
1. Tariffs increase retail prices.
2. Tariffs hurts exports as retaliatory tariffs are imposed by other governments.
3. Tariffs causes tensions between nations that often can have long-lasting effects between trading partners (i.e. the banana wars)
4. Tariffs also cause regional armed conflicts between nation.
The fact that the president has violated the law again as described is nothing new for him as president and as a citizen. We were warned of this prior to him (Trumpski) becoming president.
What is done as a result, unfortunately as the US Senate and many of its' members have vowed to exonerate the president, is to refute his presidency at the ballot box.
5
Trump would not be able to do any of this without the cooperation of Moscow Mitch.
7
All the good economic trends established under Obama continue. All the economic interventions by Trump have benefited the wealthy and hurt everyone else. In Trump world, losing is winning. If he owned an NFL team that lost a Super Bowl, he'd say that the scoreboard was malfunctioning. The real power is being exercised from a couple of dining tables at Mara Lago and even, apparently, from the bar (Hadley). It's worse than being run by the Ravenite Club on Mulberry Street in Manhattan, except that the FBI can't surveil it, investigate it or refer it for prosecution because one of its members is the Attorney General of the United States.
14
Pres. Trump decreed tariff changes and then vetoed a roll-back bill passed by majorities of both houses, a veto that Congress could not overturn.
The law that structured this strikes me as an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority. A veto can raise an obstacle to legislation but cannot sustain rule by decree. Rather, an initiative taken by decree must yield to a congressional majority. The tariffs should be rolled back and in addition the law should be changed.
That being said, what sustained the veto was apparently Republican Party legislators' fear of Pres. Trump's political reprisals. You have to conclude that Pres. Trump is ruling unchecked through fear and intimidation, not just of civil servants and "little people," but of U.S. senators. Face it, democratic government in the U.S. is past the point of being at risk. It's gone, for the moment at least.
8
Yesterday there was a piece, presumably by a Republican, saying President Trump should not be impeached because he had not committed any crime. Of course what the writer meant was that the president had not violated the penal code, i.e. the body of aberrant actions that are codified. Now when the founders said "high crimes and misdemeanors" which do you think they meant: stealing a loaf of bread, or behaving as an autocrat by abusing the Section 232 regulation as Paul Krugman describes ? Abusing Section 232 is not written into any penal code, nor is treating the presidency as a czar, but Donald Trump has done any number of czar-like actions since coming into office, the totality of which certainly qualify as a huge impeachable offense. It has always been clear to me that I don't see eye to eye with Republicans, but only lately do I realize that they appear to relish having a czar in the White House.
11
Trump sees tariffs as the no-brainer solution to any perceived trade inequity. That a no-brainer solution should have such a strong appeal to Trump should surprise no one.
7
To predict who will win a beauty contest it is important to know who the judges believe is beautiful, and Trump knows this all too well having run a few beauty contests himself. Trumps knows the base he has played to it since day one of his presidency. He knows that they believe that their economic plight is due China, Japan and Europe. He also knows his base does not want to be distracted by facts or laws and believe nostalgically america can be returned to its industrial past.
Trump has correctly identified his base's distaste for facts and laws and so he is openly contemptuous of climate change science and laws governing environmental protections. In the case of automotive industry we have another example of his base's diastase for facts and laws as they embrace the notion that somehow national security is at risk, but do not demand to hear from the people that make this claim or the documents on which this notion is based, this is because they believe this will help their economic situation and will return the automotive industry to its prior dominant place...they could care less about legalities and economic facts.
Trumps base does not believe that globalization has helped them and Trump knows this and he also knows it makes them allies in his contempt for facts, laws and importantly the Constitution, as he sees checks and balances as hindering his presidency that is contemptuous of consultation or consent, unfortunately one that his base is embracing.
10
@Walter Nieves The Detroit big 3 are fast heading to bankruptcy with the decisions they are now making. They have no idea what Americans and others really want they are only assuming and that will be their downfall. Sedans are losing numbers due to the masses not having the funds to buy their bloated priced widgets, nothing more.
Trump's use of tariffs as a political bludgeon and negotiating tactic distorts the free market with a kind of randomness that will ultimately become a drag on our economy. Nothing about the Republican Party surprises me anymore. They are now the party of unstable and unpredictable market intervention by a unitary executive branch. This is deeply troubling coming from a party with a reputation for preaching conservative economic principles and adherence to strict constitutional standards. After years of preaching economic piety and austerity to President Obama, the transformation of the Republican Party has a eerie resemblance to Dr. Jekyll morphing into an id-driven, destructive Mister Hyde.
154
@Dan "with a reputation for preaching conservative economic principles and adherence to strict constitutional standards". If you were paying close attention you might have noticed that this was only when the Democrats were in power.
27
@Dan
You certainly selected the right word: "preaching". The Republican party has certainly never practiced conservative economic principles or strict constitutional standards.
Heck, I found myself reminiscing this morning about when R's used to talk about promoting small business instead of being the party of, by, and for the multinational corporations.
10
The Trump tariffs on China worked indeed extremely well, already achieving what previous administrations could only dream of. And without any inflation or decrease in consumer purchase.
The Trump tariffs on Mexico also worked spectacularly well. The Mexican police now does its best to stop Central Americans from crossing to the US.
Here you have, for once, a president who knows how to use tariffs for the good of our countrymen.
37
@novoad
Good grief....the China tariffs cost American consumers and businesses billions of dollars, slowed business investments, pushed hundreds of farmers into bankruptcy....and would have pushed thousands into bankruptcy without expensive subsidies....and accomplished what? China's promise to buy more goods? The only important problem we face with China trade is their huge subsidies of their own businesses and intellectual property theft....the first is unmentioned in the agreement, the second is, but without any real guarantees. "
Achieving what previous administrations could only dream of? Please.
593
@novoad
Trumps tariffs are a huge tax levied by our government on American businesses and American consumers. A large part of the tariffs collected from American consumers and businesses has been handed out to farmers who have been hit hard by the Chinese sourcing farm produce elsewhere. The rest has been used to pay in small part for the huge tax cuts handed out to the wealthy and the mega corporations.
Brazil now has a whole new market for its soy beans thanks to Trump, and Trump has created an effective competitor for our farmers to battle against.
Trumps tariffs have been a huge redistribution of wealth exercise within America.
I guess its hard to see whats happening when you are looking through so much wool.
333
@novoad
You mean the US trade deficit going from $40 billion per month to $50 billion per month is "working well". The same for a few televised "show stops" of brown people in Mexico while the actual inflow of central Americans (no longer bothering to seek asylum) is going up. With such low and reverse performance standards even my great grand mother could be great (and she is dead).
179
If Chancellor Merkel were to offer to Trump to intervene on Trump's behalf to make sure that none of Trump's Deutsche Bank records are ever released to US authorities, I would think this would guarantee that no German products would see a Trump tariff.
12
Unfortunately, it is not as simple or as localized as "Trump treats U.S. policy as a tool he can deploy as he chooses, in his own interests, without seeking congressional approval or even informing Congress about what he’s doing or why."
The problem comes not simply from Trump's intent or even from his actions themselves. It comes from too many Americans BELIEVING that Trump is doing this for THEIR interests. And even if not in their interest, he is doing it to THEM.
This willingness to believe in Trump and to hate others is the American problem of the day. Tariffs are just a symptom.
So how do we dispel our fellow citizens of their falsely placed faith and of their hatreds? We should not give up on reason and evidence. But it goes beyond that in terms of psychology and reinforcement by some whose interests align with the results of this attitude. We all know the effect of FOX's Hannity etc. But why are they so effective? Why do people like believing them, even though they do not improve their lives? Maybe it's like watching your football team win. The guys on the field make all the money and you get a temporary kick, and move on to that next kick, all the while you are getting kicked where it hurts but are too distracted to care, until the games take a break.
6
There is another reason we can be sure that trump is abusing his trade powers. Trump can impose broad sanctions and then write exemptions for individual companies. This allows trump to personally pick and choose which companies face tariffs. Thus where sanctions are in effect, anyone who wants access to American markets needs trump's personal approval to get it.
It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what companies need to do to get that approval. The only question is how much money "national security sanctions" have generated for trump so far.
14
When we look at previous regime's foreign policies, have they linked seemingly unrelated issues to coerce other governments? This is part of the modus operandi of government, sometimes involving threats of violence, a credible threat in view of its history of violent aggressions. In fact, some academics have called government a tool of "coercion and compulsion," that that is its characteristic feature. Say, it ain't so, Paul.
Krugman rebukes Trump's regime of illegally withholding a Commerce Department report. Krugman writes, "To be honest, I have some doubts about whether the report even exists." Similarly with Saddam Hussein's supposed nuclear bomb program, or the "Purloined Letter," as any post-structuralism student would tell you, is the existence of this report relevant to the story?
But, Krugman insists that withholding the unclassified parts of the report is illegal. So, what's your point? That every person has an ethical obligation to obey every law is doubtful.
Krugman avoids this issue, leaving a gap in his argument. Conflating law with ethics would make Mich McConnell or Hillary Clinton the source of ethical truths -- close to a reductio at absurdum. Krugman, like most people, needs to develop a healthy disrespect for their law and the evil rulers who manufacture it.
2
The president isn’t just some random guy violating a traffic law. The President of the United States has a specific obligation to follow the laws of the land when enacting policy of the government of the United States. He is not a king and must submit his actions for review or approval to the co-equal branch of government that represents us, the People of the United States of America. He doesn’t get to just ignore the laws he doesn’t like because “laws are meant to be broken.” Upholding the laws of the land is part of his job!
6
When are people going to wise up and realize manufacturing jobs are not coming back. No matter whether there are tariffs or penalties or whatever. Corporations have a choice....pay low wages and a 2.5% penalty or bring the jobs back and pay 3-4 times what they pay in wages elsewhere and they will also have to pay some benefits other places' governments provide. Mexico and China didn't force American companies to transfer their work there. They went willingly, eagerly. Because those places had what the companies were looking for. Cheap, no benefits labor. So if you think those jobs are coming back, are you willing to give those companies what they seek. Very low wages and no benefits? Unless you are willing to accept those terms, you voted for the wrong guy. He is betting that if the safety net is dismantled, you will accept those terms. Just like the Polish workers did when they built Trump tower. And all those Mexicans did at his golf courses. Until Trump got caught and had to get rid of them. Make no mistake.. He will find another way around the rules. Or you will crawl to him for a job on his terms. By all means vote for him again.
8
Republicans love tariffs like they love guns. Unfortunately every country that we attempt to impose our will on can do the same thing back to us. I will always remember when Donald Trump uttered the words "trade wars are easy". Other than the fact that he had never waged one before there is no comprehending how big of a lie this actually was.
5
The stock market is overheating but the economy has been chugging along for 11 years now. I am wondering if the Teflon Don's tariff's have been keeping a check on the economy in a back door sort of way?
I'm not sure who is more irrational at this point: Trump or McConnell. Trump appears to be prepared to throw away all the allies we've had or made over the decades. McConnell appears to have no problems making the GOP look like the party of unmoral hypocrites. Law and order exists only for the little people who pay taxes, must work, and don't have to be listened to.
We're turning students back at airports even though they have valid visas to stay here and study. We're denying asylum to people who have legitimate claims. And we're watching as Trump under the tutelage of McConnell and Putin, guts the Constitution that our founding fathers put so much thought into.
Ironically the only ones not being hurt by the tariffs are the economic elites. They have so much money that none of this matters to them. But I do think that McConnell ought to take the time to read about what led up to WWII, Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor, and perhaps ponder why it pays to be a good ally. Then again, he's too busy running a sham trial for a president who isn't worthy of the name or the implications of the name. I hate to say it but if Trump remains in office, tariffs will be the least of our worries.
1/23/2020 9:21pm first submit
11:03pm 2nd submit
20
If re-elected Trump will rule as a dictator supported by Barr and McCONNELLand break any law he wants including enriching his family as taxpayers expense.
42
Trump is also claiming and using his ability to grant exemptions from paying tariffs on their imports to specific U.S. firms, which is crony capitalism at its worst.
24
First he builds a wall to keep people out of this country, whether they deserve it or not. Now he's built a wall to keep foreign businesses and their products out of this country. In between, he's bailed on international agreements to preserve and protect the planet's climate for generations to come. All the while, he's put himself above his country for his own personal gain.
Pride and ego cometh before the fall. Let's hope so.
20
I’d start this column reminding readers that Article 1, section 8 of the U.S. Constitution gives the power to enact tariffs to Congress, not to the President.
Congress has passed laws giving limited tariff power to the President only if certain conditions exist.
A President who lies about such conditions in order to unconstitutionally exercise tariff power should be removed from office. Since Trump does this repeatedly, impeachment should be used, rather than waiting for the next election.
26
It isn’t his fault that Congress won’t do its job and gives the power to the President.
2
When the REPUBLICAN controlled Congress failed to stand up to President Trump's initial illegal use of tariffs in 2017 they set a precedent. Donald Trump may have a total disregard for the Rule of Law but he knows a precedent when he sees one.
13
Trumps trade war has cost me $20,000 in 2019 and maybe even more in 2020 this my friends is how recessions begin. I make less so I spend less and the uncertainty about my future income means I won’t do any big ticket purchases. Ny spending is other people’s income. I know this is probably to complex for trumpets to understand.
15
The only effect I have seen is that one of my favorite Scotches has gone from $100 to $125, but then, I have no choice but to buy it.
1
Of course it is abuse of power. National security arguments to slap tariffs on imports of Canadian steel and aluminum? The same for tariffs on imports of Chinese-manufactured goods (by the way, mostly produced in China by American companies)? No, these are not matters of national security. It's the same as declarations of "national emergencies" on the Mexican border to justify vetos on Senate votes to not spend funds to build the "wall." And so on.
9
Genuine question: Why can Trump do something that is blatantly illegal?
It could no longer be challenged in the WTO because the US have blocked WTO dispute settlement procedures.
But surely it must be possible to stop him in the US parliament.
Anyway, the next German chancellor will not be the fearful Ms Merkel. He or she may simply pay back in the same currency and just suspend operations at US military installations in Germany which are crucial for the US presence in the Middle East. I am certain that such move would be highly popular with the German electorate.
11
Your point is valid; however, the US does not have a parliament like the UK or Canada.
We have a Legislature comprised of a Senate and a House.
4
The Trump administration has always shown one of the hallmarks of badly run organizations: the proliferation of solutions in search of problems.
Iran-Contra is one example that shows Mr. Trump isn't the first president to fall for implementations-chasing-policy. But there are two factors unique to his regime.
The first is his own lack of interest in policy in general (previous administrations did think they needed some). The second is even more dangerous: looking at his job solely in terms of his rights and powers, not responsibilities.
It seems grimly plausible that Mr. Trump asked some transition official for a list of presidential powers (we know he found the Constitution hard to read). That binder would include dozens, if not hundreds, of powers the presidency has accreted in the years since WWII.
Some were supposed to be transitory, or in case of various emergencies. Some were never retracted. Some are supposed to apply only in certain situations or for specific reasons, like the tariff twiddling. All of them assume a president will operate in good faith for the best interests of the U.S.
When all this is over, it would be in the country's best interests to clean out the inventory...it's already become a fire hazard we never thought would actually be dangerous.
31
Does Trump's base think his chaotic approach will lead to stable improvement? If they are not rich, they have the most to lose. The elitists on the coast with more resources will suffer less. Sad.
6
Maybe not stable improvements, but as least something is being done, which has happened in more than 50 years. The last thing I remember is when Ike in the fifties stopped military dependents from going to Europe with their husbands to reduce the trade deficit. A military man punishing the military, at least tariffs only punish those who must have a certain product.
Once upon a time, Canada welcomed U.S. investment in its resource industries, even though the resources were typically sent back to the U.S. for processing and other value-adding activities.
Canada still welcomes U.S. investment, but it comes these days with a lot of baggage.
Fortunately, there are other investors in the world, and other markets for Canadian resources. There’s a particularly large and wealthy one on the other side of the Pacific.
As I write this, the Government of Canada is holding Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou under house arrest in Vancouver. Put bluntly, she has been kidnapped and held hostage by Canadian officials, operating out of some misguided sense of loyalty to Donald Trump and the U.S. Government. But as Trump himself continues to break the law in international relations, the willingness of others to break the law on his behalf will slowly evaporate.
Tariffs are merely the surface indicator of a much larger problem. U.S. influence in other countries is not simply a matter of opinion polls. It lies in the willingness of people in authority to put U.S. interests ahead of their own, typically in ways that don’t come to the attention of the public.
But there comes a point where even the most compliant of people resent being used, and they don’t like being laughed at as poodles and lapdogs. It might not be apparent to Americans, but Trump and his Republicans are weakening U.S. influence in a way that might soon become irreversible.
20
@Global Charm
Excellent points.
" It might not be apparent to Americans, but Trump and his Republicans are weakening U.S. influence in a way that might soon become irreversible." Some Americans are aware. Unfortunately not enough, especially in the Republican party.
9
I realize that I should reassess my understanding of Republican principles, but why do they support the government choosing winners and losers by imposing tariffs/taxes broadly and then granting exceptions and rebates where they see fit?
16
Well, the European do some very strange things
Take , for example, the French tax on Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, known in France as GAFA tax that Mr. Macron, in violation of EU rules , single handedly imposed on American companies in July
Now, personally, I find nothing with taxing Tech companies on the money they make in a country. Au contraire
But that tax was carefully adjusted NOT to tax French Tech companies, using a threshold that taxed US companies , but not French ones.
That is illegal. Internationally and under EU law
Mr. Bruno Le Maire, the finance minister, when asked if he would withdraw the tax, said in front of the TV camera three time: ,jamais, jamais, jamais (never , never, never)
Enter Trump.
Le Figaro, France, 16 hours ago
«Taxe Gafa» : Paris et Washington trouvent un accord posant les bases de futures négociations
Bruno Le Maire a salué un accord qui «réduit le risque de sanctions américaines et ouvre la perspective d'une solution internationale sur la fiscalité numérique».
In English
“Gafa tax”: Paris and Washington find an agreement laying the foundations for future negotiations
Bruno Le Maire welcomed an agreement which "reduces the risk of American sanctions and opens the prospect of an international solution on digital taxation".
Le Figaro, 15 hours ago
Trump , mes amies, reigned in the French that violated EU law, and is working towards an International solution
Tres bien
2
@talesofgenji
1. It's not going to hit just American companies, though they will probably be hit 'hardest' since they're the largest.
2. Macron didn't impose this singlehandedly, this was arranged and approved by the French government.
3. The tax hasn't been imposed in July, it's still on the shelf to be rolled out.
4. If it's contended to be in violation of any laws be them national French laws or EU laws, they will be dealt with accordingly.
So compare this to the Trumpian way. The first point is France isn't doing this because they want to force an ally to do what they want. Trump is.
Second point Macron has come to this taxation via the normal governmental procedures active in the French system, he hasn't singlehandedly imposed anything. Trump does by bypassing congress with fake national security deals so he doesn't have to check with them, effectively bypassing the whole checks & balances system.
Third point, Trump had all kinds of taxes already in place befor the French wanted to initiate this tax. Either way this isn't a response from the French to the US on the tariffwar, it's a whole nother issue.
Fourth, should France be found in violation of any laws, you can bet your hiney that they will reverse the taxation or make it so that it will be legal and within the law. Trump on the other hand doesn't, he just keeps stonewalling or making stuff up as long as he can get away with having it his way.
The comparison doesn't fly, you're comparing apples and oranges.
5
@talesofgenji So? And this relates to Trump and US law how?
@talesofgenji
The French tax proposal doesn't exempt French companies.
It just sets limits on turnover and thus mainly affects very large companies which happen to be American.
And nobody in Europe wants to buy an American car. They are ugly, badly made, too big and not sufficiently fuel efficient.
When they are not like Teslas or US manufactured BMWs or Mercedes Europeans do buy them.
So how about making products that people want?
Trump behaves as if he’s a tyrant, and his party aids and abets him. Precisely what impeachment and removal were designed to avoid.
22
Sadly, under Trump it feels as if it could be the end game for America.
Trump is hell bent on cementing America's descent into mediocrity.
While there may some temporary decent numbers in terms of employment level and stock market performance, I believe his deleterious policies or rather diktats will hurt the economy, the standing of the US, peace in the world and the sustainability of the environment in major ways.
Trump lives in the moment, only, and does not care about anything but himself. He needs to go as soon as possible before the damage done is irreversible.
20
Two thoughts:
1. Such deleterious tariffs against our used-to-be closed allies (I guess the U.S. doesn’t really have any allies any more?) only serves to weaken our nation security. But then again, under the GOP and Trump, ALL roads lead to Putin.
2. Trump is also pushing 100% tariffs on E.U. Wine. As The Trump family owns a domestic winery, how is this not a direct violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution?
But I guess we no longer have a Constitution with this Senate and Executive.
22
Not just this, but in his recent CNBC interview in Davos, Trump attempted to strong-arm Apple into giving up their encryption techniques, by observing that he has graciously given Apple tariff exemptions, and fearmongering about how desperately we need to unlock the phones of murderers. Then, Trump went on to try essentially the same tactic with Tesla, and even announced that Tesla building a new factory in America (they're not), because they owe it to him. In between the appeals, Trump bragged that Zuckerburg informed him that he's #1 on Facebook.
This is a man unrestrained by not only presidential customs, but the law itself. Right now, with the Senate acquittal more or less secure, you can safely wager that he's focused on how he can win re-election, no matter what. Because Trump supporters comprise only about 43% of the country, the GOP will continue to align themselves with Putin's messaging and election interference efforts.
If Trump stays in office come January 21st, 2021, representative democracy will almost certainly be over for America. I can already hear it: "In fact, folks, we don't even need another election, if you think about it! 'There's no need', people are saying. Everyone says it! Don't worry, everyone, America needs me, and I know it."
17
When will our representatives and senators finally stand up for themselves and for the U.S. Constitution? Congress is supposed to write the nation's laws. The president, according to the Constitution, "shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Trump's invocation of phony national security concerns to hijack trade policy--and to siphon money from the defense budget to build his wasteful and needless border wall--is an abuse of power.
5
I'm not sure who is more irrational at this point: Trump or McConnell. Trump appears to be prepared to throw away all the allies we've had or made over the decades. McConnell appears to have no problems making the GOP look like the party of unmoral hypocrites. Law and order exists only for the little people who pay taxes, must work, and don't have to be listened to.
We're turning students back at airports even though they have valid visas to stay here and study. We're denying asylum to people who have legitimate claims. And we're watching as Trump under the tutelage of McConnell and Putin, guts the Constitution that our founding fathers put so much thought into.
Ironically the only ones not being hurt by the tariffs are the economic elites. They have so much money that none of this matters to them. But I do think that McConnell ought to take the time to read about what led up to WWII, Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor, and perhaps ponder why it pays to be a good ally. Then again, he's too busy running a sham trial for a president who isn't worthy of the name or the implications of the name. I hate to say it but if Trump remains in office, tariffs will be the least of our worries.
1/23/2020 9:21pm first submit
9
It’s the inherent corruption in tariff EXEMPTIONS that worries me most about this practice. Bad in the abstract... but particularly with this president. Talk about quid pro quo!
8
That is why we must impeach Donald, he is not only a threat to our security but also make us pay U.S. government more tariff (aka taxes) to cover the deficits created by Republican's corporate tax cuts.
We did not elect any president who would impose more taxes on us, last time it happened it triggered the Revolution!
9
The overlying explanation of Trump's inexplicable behavior was summarized by Lindsey Graham recently. Trump believes that what he is doing is right ... And by inference that makes it right.
People are so numb to Trump's lack of empathy that it has become the new normal. It makes no difference to Trump that tariffs are not simply a social punishment and have nothing to do with national security. Similarly, Trump said that it makes no difference that there was no imminent threat from Suleimani, he was a bad man so that Trump could kill him without notifying Congress. Trump gave Erdogan permission to enter Syria an murder Kurds, turn thousands into refugees, and enable ISIS. He was ignorant of the consequences as a result of consulting no one on his actions, and therefore it was OK.
It is no longer popular to refer to Trump as a pathological narcissist and a sociopath. Yet a quick Google on the subject yields many psychologists that have concluded that his behavior is consistent with that diagnosis.
Trump is just plain missing the portion of his human empathy that allows him be affected by consequences to his actions. Tariffs, foreign policy, domestic tax policy are all just part of his government sandbox with no adults in supervision.
4
He behaves as if he OWNS our country and probably believes that, as president, it's his to do with as he wishes. He's been given a green light by the Republicans and has had very few restrictions put on his actions by the courts. I fantasize that Roberts will have a hissy fit and blow the Republican senators and Trump out of the water and the country! My voice doesn't seem to matter, so allow me the peace that comes with thinking that Roberts will help pave the way for the whole administration to go down the tubes. None of that will happen, of course, but it keeps my blood from boiling over.
The Trump apologists are perhaps more disturbing than Trump himself, whose rewards for being President are understandable. It's chilling to read the twisted and distorted views of Trump's illegal, unethical and disastrous decisions regarding most everything about American life and laws.
Mr. Krugman rightly and accurately points out that Trump is abusing his tariff power, in a disturbing example of his contempt for the laws of this country. He doesn't have the remotest idea of what he's doing because he either doesn't have the capacity to understand tariff laws, or he doesn't care--or both.
His followers can be described as fanatics, described by Jeremy Sherman, PhD. and MPP, as "humanity's greatest scourge", and some of their toxic confidence is reflected in their comments on a
column by an economist who has won the Nobel Prize!
6
The president's m.o. is to commit an offense, get caught and then try to cover up what he's done. That was the pattern with regard to the 2016 election and related investigations. It's the pattern with regard to the Ukraine scandal. It's the pattern with tariffs. There are probably other examples. The Democrats should talk about this pattern during the trial. The president is a repeat offender. That further justifies his removal.
4
It is so discouraging to be ruminating on yet another body of illegal actions by Trump. What is even worse is that he has surrounded himself with mob-level sycophants. The DOJ won't check him. He has packed the courts, so they won't contain him. He has McConnell in the Senate who won't allow any legislation that threatens him or his actions to go forward. We are on the verge of becoming a fascist authoritarian state with Trump as Emperor. And to top it all off, we have 35-40% of the electorate who have effectively become zombies. They neither see nor hear his crimes. I despair for our nation. We are on the verge of collapse as a nation.
8
It's worked.
USMCA. China.
Trade deals that were able to garner enough public support to pass, unlike TPPA.
Worked how? The China deal has hardly a step forward from where the contry was in 2016. USMCA is basically NAFTA (and the few real differences there are, are not thanks to him but Congress). The TP would have helped the US against China. Instead China is taking the place of the US in that partnership. Trump is so inept it's laughable.
Well, he abused that power long ago. National security justification for steel and aluminum tariffs from Canada? Old news.
2
We have Republican Senators sitting in an impeachment hearing practically rolling their eyes with contempt. They fiddle around like bored, ill-behaved school children. They gleefully tell reporters that they have no intention of paying attention. They parrot the words of the man who is being investigated to belittle the investigators. They mock their Democratic colleagues very serious presentation of damning and alarming evidence that shows Trump's abuse.
It's no wonder with the mind set exhibited by Republicans during this Constitutional check on abuse of power that Trump thinks he can throw around the weight of American power whenever and wherever he wants to get his way. They have shamed the Senate and themselves for trashing the oath they took to protect the Constitution.
10
There is no darkness, but ignorance. William Shakespeare.
If we walk through life, ignorant of the world around us, then we deserve to be kept in the dark. When we open up our eyes to the ways of the world, and see it for what it is, then the darkness is lifted and all becomes clear. If you know what you want from this life, but don't know how to get there, then you will find yourself stumbling around alone in the dark. Seek the knowledge that you require, and become wise to the path infront of you. If you lift up the black veil of ignorance, your path will become clear, and the light will shine upon you, and guide you on your way. Knowledge is power. Ignorance is failure. Which path will you choose?
Krugman once again displays why he’s a Nobel Laureate, yet there are Republican supporters that routinely post that Krugman doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or he’s part of the “bias main stream media” but they only prove their ignorance and unwillingness to think that their man could be wrong on his economic prowess. If people are really interested on what tariffs other countries have go to the the World Trade Organization web page, and find out, seek the information you need to be less ignorant.
2
Should be added to the articles of impeachment!! Seriously! Yet another illustration that laws mean absolutely nothing to this administration. How this abuse of Section 232 would stand up to any kind of judicial review is beyond belief. It is not unlike the Muslim ban where the justification was pure fabrication without any basis in reality.
4
Stop. Stop. Just stop.
How is the market doing. Your retirement account is worth more now than it's ever been. Your buying power is the best it's been in years. Why? Because its the answer you cant accept. I know, it hurts. Find the truth.
2
@bored critic My house was worth a huge amount until 2007, thanks to GWB. The question is not "How is the market doing?" but what are the future risks.
3
@bored critic
It is a bubble fuelled by massive debts.
The fundamentals of the US economy have not improved.
1
Germany and France were threatened with tariffs to follow the US policy to punish Iran for signing a treaty that the US walked away from for no reason. The economic warfare the US has engaged in against Iran has been helped by the EUs unwillingness to be sanctioned and have tariffs raised on their products by the US. This will inevitably lead to major efforts to end the USs dominance of the world banking and finance system. Trump has ended the free trade system the US set up after WW2 which has been instrumental in the growth of the world economy.
7
Of corse he is by using the completely false claim of national security and the Republican Senate is too frightened of Trump to do their duty which is to establish or remove tariffs.
So what else is new?
7
What I don't understand is that the Constitution gives Congress the sole power to levy tariffs, so why does Congress just sit there and let Trump raise tariffs? That is Congress's role, not the president's. The way I see it, Congress can't give Trump any power to levy tariffs because since the Constitution gives Congress the sole power to set tariffs, passing a law to give those powers to the president is basically making a change to the Constitution without going through the onerous process of changing the Constitution.
6
Suggestion for investigative reporting: To whom exactly is the Trump administration granting tariff waivers? What exactly are the quid pro quo's on that procedure? We've already seen Trump get a photo op with Tim Cook in exchange for favorable treatment. (Apple let them actually film extensively at the factory, footage that will no doubt be used in the campaign)
11
Politicians raise taxes all the time, especially if you count borrowing money (which is deferred taxation). Why tariffs seem to be some sacred cow is beyond me. I pay tons of taxes. Paul Krugman doesn't seem to think me having to pay income taxes hurts the world economy, world peace, and cosmic goodness. What's his deal with tariffs???
2
@david Without taxes who pays for the maintenance of roads, bridges and other infrastructure? There are also other necessities such as police, fire brigade and anything else you would whinge about if they weren't at your beck and call.
1
The House of Representatives should begin another impeachment immediately based on this article. Throw some Mueller stuff in too. Keeping the House busy with these endless accusations has its usefulness. No one pays any attention to their disturbing legislative agenda. It's all Trump Show. Just like here at the NYT. As in the past, that's in Trumps favor!
1
@Jackson It would not be a waste of tax payers money if you remove the person who is absorbing $millions more than any other president in history.
If only we could figure out a way to slap a tariff on lies.
30
@RNS Shouldn't lying to the Nation by a president be punished in some way?
How can the federal government function with a chief executive who makes publlic declarations that he has not thoroughly considered? Who doesn’t understand what powers the constitution allows him?
Who frequently refuses to obey the law? Who can’t keep track of all the secrets he’s illegally keeping?
Mr. Trump appears to be absolutely unable to think things through before taking action. This is why ANYTHING Trump says may be taken back.
An example from today’s news:
“A day after President Trump suggested he was open to cutting entitlement programs in a second term, he insisted he would protect Social Security.”
Shouldn’t the American people be able to take the POTUS at his word?
President Trump spends more time “changing his story” and “walking back what he said yesterday” than he does making rational decisions.
What the president might intend to accomplish by tearing up trade agreements, imposing illegal tariffs, threatening to impose other tariffs, and then changing his mind is anyone’s guess.
Perhaps, Trump’s behavior has no relationship to governance. Maybe what we’re watching is simply a desperate plea for attention and reassurance.
14
@Tom W i think this is an actual strategy.
2
I've been an investor for many decades, as a professional and now for my own investments. Trump has been a disaster for me. I assume that all actors who can affect companies that I invest in are rational. Mistakes, sure, and bad luck, too. But not irrational, destructive decisions. I did not allow for Trump's chaotic style, and it cost me dearly.
11
Krugman is quite right that concerning tariffs Trump has with profligacy violated both laws and norms. There is an additional way that Trump's actions here are illegal. Tariffs are taxes - until the Civil War they were most of the taxes our country collected. The Constitution is most emphatic about taxes. They can only ever be changed by legislation, and that legislation must start in the House. Nor can either Congress or the President, or even both working together, just override the Constitution. Admittedly this is moot because Trump flagrantly violated laws on the books concerning national security emergencies, which he claims motivated him. But as the Federalist Papers spelled out dozens of times, the Founding Fathers saw the rough beast that is Trump slouching towards the Presidency and they constructed bulwarks with which we could have stopped his vile deeds.
16
Krugman - an economist - usually goes off the rails with articles beyond the scope of his expertise (usually in politics). But here - he gets the economics completely wrong.
A 25% tariff on foreign autos would be an immeasurable boost to the US auto industry; which ultimately employs tens of thousands of people and is a key component of the US economy. Yes, any jobs lost in Europe would be replaced by US jobs, in the long run. Yes, Trump is looking out for the national interest, and is not too sad that those jobs would ultimately go back to Americans.
Krugman -with a mandate to only write anti-Trump articles -apparently thinks this is immoral or wrong.
1
It may not be immoral (though that is at best debatable) but it is clearly illegal and beyond the powers of the president, who prefers to act like a dictator. If only Congress had the spine to assert its authority in this area!
2
So you STILL believe that China’s paying those tariffs.
Good grief.
5
@El Shrinko nope, he didn't say immoral...he said illegal. and it is.
4
Studying the history of the 1920s might be informative in developing an understanding of where the Trump political philosophy, to the degree he has one, might be leading us. Then a good read of a book such as "Fascism:A Warning" by Madeleine Albright, might give some insight to what might be in our future if we remain on the current path.
12
Dr. Krugman, the auto tariffs on European nations and Japan have been explicitly linked to our national security by the Trump administration. Iran is a threat to national security and in order to get Iran to behave, we need the Europeans and Japanese to work on our team, and in order to do that we need to hit them where it hurts. Presto, auto tariffs! Yes, there may be an economic cost associated with these or Chinese tariffs and certain constituents may need to be bailed out, thereby costing the exchequer some more.... but all that is small fries - exercising the military option with Iran would be a Double Whopper!
@anatlanta um no, the law says what the law says and he must comply. Trump doesn't get to run roughshod over the Constitution just because he thinks he has a better idea.
6
Rewind 30 years.
Instead of the US following the mantra of international trade raises all ships, espoused in this column, had we instead played a strategic tariffs game with China from the start, then China would not have risen, industry would have stayed in the US, there would be no Trump, and the exponential rise in Green House Gases accompanied by Chinese industrialization would be a fraction of what it is, and the geopolitical shift away from US global supremacy towards totalitarianism would never have happened.
Oh, but stuff, sox, buiding products etc would cost more, increasing inflation without having the need for ZIRP.
Who is to blame?
3
@scientella
A chain of unproven and unverifiable assumptions does not an argument make. We can assume anything about what might have happened but proof would be ever elusive. Suppose China had risen on trade with other nations alone. Suppose that given the potential for goods made in China and elsewhere completely taking over our markets, we had seen the potential and found ways of keeping jobs here, such as textiles and electronics assembly. Suppose anything.
American companies, especially those with publicly traded stocks, want big profits or nothing. Steady as you go went out decades ago. It is all about making a killing and it would be hard to find one top executive out of 100, or even a thousand, who not only cares about what happens generally and socially because of the corporation but also works to lessen negative impacts and increase positive ones. To a large degree, we have thrown over responsible capitalism for rat race capitalism and they will chase down the dollar wherever they can find it.
4
Trump shows again and again what a dangerous man he is. He's using the presidency to advance his interests and his power. If he gets re-elected, we will not have a democracy by 2024. I doubt that he would leave at that point. Like Putin, Xi, and others, he'll make himself "president" for life.
13
@Jackson He advancing his own as he always has. Stiffing contractors who have completed work for him is self interest. Now he makes decisions that effect the stock market and one can be assured he has someone who will help him make a killing.
If Trump is not removed by the US Senate then the US is officially a dictatorship under a police state.
Trump is abusing presidential power when he never legitimately won the office in the first place. And now he's treating the entire Congress like a minor embellishment to his all-powerful presidency. He even ignores lawful subpoenas issued during an impeachment inquiry. And the entire country expects the Senate to completely overlook this, giving Trump the green light to do more of the same and even escalate his lawlessness.
What should we expect next? Cancelling elections? They may as well be cancelled since they're already being rigged by Trump anyway.
Look for him to end freedom of the press, possibly threatening to withhold licenses for TV news networks. The EPA and State Dept. are already powerless. The FBI and the CIA are under constant attack by Trump and the GOP and controlled by AG Barr at the DOJ. Hillary and Comey will be tied and imprisoned. Manafort, Flynn and Roger Stone will be pardoned. The Ukraine will be toast and Russian sanctions will be dropped. Social Security will be cut and additional cuts will be made to Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, unemployment insurance and SSI.
One more term in office and America will be the most cruel, fascist dictatorship in recent history.
35
China to Germany: if you don't play fair with Huawei, we gonna jack up your car tariff.
US to Germany: if you play fair with Huawei, we gonna do the same.
2
Republicans are the party of law and order—as long as the accused are poor. Because, of course,only poor people can be criminals.
16
When a Republican senator tells you how boring this all is, that senator is telling you how embarrassed he is for being a White House lackey.
15
@David Henry: Rejection of Trump is a five minute process for insightful people.
Would you buy a used car from Don Trump?
9
@Teri I'd agree to buy the car, and after taking possession of the car, I'd refuse to pay the full price. Trump University Econ 101.
15
@Teri
I wouldn’t buy a thimble of water from Trump, good thing Trump neither sells used cars or bottled water (anymore the man couldn’t even make money selling bottled water.
1
@Gerbert I agree. This line was often used about “Dick Nixon” and I thought it appropriate here. Not many would consider buying a car from him, but they let him hold the highest office in the country.
2
Will someone please explain to me how the Dow Jones has increased by double digits, up to 20% per year, especially when we are seeing bankruptcies throughout the consumer sector, previously a major driver of the economy? The rise seems to be distributed over all sectors at once - not just a single speculative focus like tulip bulbs - but there is not "more" of anything one can point to. Am I alone in thinking this is not sustainable?
14
@Jane You are not, but interest rates are so low that rich folks money has to go somewhere...it goes straight to the S&P.
Not to mention that manufacturing (ISM) is at a 10 year low...that's often a leading indicator.
5
Jackson, I think we all know that a magician always draws attention to his right hand when the left hand’s the one with the trick rabbit.
3
All countries are printing free money to keep the bubble alive. We are headed for great pain.
Trump’s actionable trigger for every contingency is “chaos”. Whatever he can do to generate more disarray or mayhem is his hotspot. This keeps everyone off balance. Eventually, our economics will become solidly affected.
284
@NOTATE REDMOND Sometimes this whole circus reminds me of the TV series "Get Smart". But that was much funnier than this and had far better actors.
22
@The Woodwose Wages rising faster for low income Americans are mostly due to states and localities raising the minimum wage. Nothing that Trump did and certainly nothing attached to tariff threats. What you haven't done is provide evidence for a reasonable connection between tariffs (including threats of tariffs) and the results you are heralding. Do you also not try to understand the longer run consequences of current policies or are you happy just thinking in terms of the short run? Lastly, when the economy goes into recession will you then blame Trump or simply parrot whatever excuse he cares to make?
16
@The Woodwose In regard to wages raising faster for EXECUTIVES AND CEO's than ever since ... It has been noted that the average worker, not low income, is some astronomically triple digits or more below the earnings of executives/ c.e.o's salary. "Bigly" continued income disparity. Underemployment is routine as average wage/salary does not allow people to survive unless you are part of 1% ers.
9
Thank you for continuing to point out the true impact of Trump's tariff wars. I wish more Americans could understand the true consequences of his authoritarian approach. He deserves to be defeated in 2020.
11
Call it Trump's Law. No matter how bad a news story about Trump appears, it always gets worse the deeper you look.
20
This is yet another failure of small government and free markets, but Americans are too brainwashed to notice.
5
Trump is a protest candidate who accidentally won, and arrived with no "policy" except to disrupt and make noise. It is a waste of mind space to even discuss this. Don't encourage futile debate.
3
Donald Trump is either too ignorant or too dishonest or too stupid to realize and understand that Americans pay for the tariffs he imposes on foreign nations.
Indeed, Trump may be all three.
22
The USA doesn’t manufacture cars. We manufacture trucks. Import pose little threat to the latter and are irrelevant for the former.
2
Who in the White House is actually pushing for all these tariffs? I can't help but think DJT has never given tariffs a thought in his life. Who is pushing these upon him and the US?
12
No need to write these articles. I now accept Trumps at fault for Dominos putting the wrong toppings on my pizza.
1
@Alberto Abrizzi sounds like so mething trump would do.
1
that would be true if they told u the pineapple really was pepperoni...do not push honest mistakes as being same as trump lies
1
As to Trump's "great" deal with China, as I understand it they are only obligated to buy our goods at the "market" rate. So our farmers, in particular, can either meet lower prices for their crops, competing with Brazil for one, or look for other markets. This is not a win for them. So much for the tariff war, we lost.
The real problem with Trump's appropriation of the tariffs, spending not authorized by Congress and using the Treasury for his own gain is that there is no one to stop him. The Republican Senate is in his pocket, the leash is off.
14
If you are talking tariffs let's talk about the proposed tariffs of up to 100% on all wine, spirits and many food products from all 27 EU countries and the UK in response to the dispute between Airbus & Boeing. USTR-2019-0003 Large Civil Aircraft Dispute (see attached summary)
Full information here: https://www.regulations.gov/docket?D=USTR-2019-0003
These tariffs will fall almost completely on American importers, distributors, freight handlers,warehouses, retailers, restaurants, their support staffs AND American wineries who will lose their distribution channels throughout the US. If any wine gets through - now costing twice as much - the cost falls ultimately on the American consumer
It will affect travel from Europe by the all the business people supporting those European wineries, and more than that European tourists. A substantial portion of American wine (particularly California, Oregon and Washington) is exported to Europe. What will happen to those sales?
People aren't just going to start drinking more American wine. The wine is not interchangeable. It doesn't have anything to do with the manufacture or sale of aircraft, aircraft parts, or other heavy equipment sectors.
12
Isn’t it obvious that French wine threatens our national security ?
4
This is what Trump is talking about when he says he’s making ‘great deals for our country’. He’s running a big protection racket.
22
I don't support trade as a tool of punishment. I don't support sanctions as a tool of foreign policy, because this is a form of violence against the world's poorest people.
Trade brings peace. Trade brings communication. Trade unites the world, lifts people out of poverty, and fuels American power. I support trade, with as few restrictions as possible.
Sometimes, we need to take action to keep the market fair. That is part of capitalism. Trump's actions aren't seeking to make the market fair, they aren't seeking to improve trade relations in the long run. Trump wants to use trade to hurt people.
Trump does everything to hurt people.
748
@Edward Allen Trade as a way to promote peace was at the core of U.S. international policy from 1945 until Trump. But that was a different America.
97
@Edward Allen . . . and Lindsey Graham once, back when he had a conscience, would say using presidential power to hurt people is a "crime."
17
@Edward Allen
I agree. Trump does everything to hurt people and at the same time, he gets to thumb his nose at us, or at anyone he feels may be critical of him. He's like a wild teenager and this means he's a danger to us and the whole world.
And yet, he managed to get elected and mesmerized the entire republican party
(This is really the scariest fact.) Separately,
both Trump and the republicans didn't seem to be much of a problem but when the two of them got together it's like they both got combustible and are riding rough-shod over our constitution.
Everyone knows that Trump doesn't pay attention to laws but how does he manage to ignore all the tariff rules with no one calling on him for it. He's like a bull in the china shop but he's deliberately trying to break anything he wants and not pay for it.
18
Great column. And don't forget Trump's allies in the Congress are complicit. I recall one of my Senators, Ben Sasse, boasting of how he would stand up to a president of any party who attempted "executive overreach." Sasse one called Trump's antics "civilization warping." Alas, Sasse has been thoroughly warped by his fear of the mean tweet, and is as gelded as Lindsey Graham.
174
Krugman writes,
"Trump’s scofflaw behavior with regard to auto tariffs is part of a broader pattern of abuse of power and contempt for the rule of law."
It may of course be designed to appeal to auto workers who find themselves out of jobs because of competition with cheaper foreign labor.
But it is a clear abuse of power. The Constitution divided the government into three branches, executive, legislative and judicial, and the setting of tariffs would normally be in the province of the legislative branch.
But Democrats cannot complain too loudly.
After all, it was Obama who offered a temporary amnesty to "dreamers" which was regarded by many as an abuse of executive action. It was argued that the proper venue for changes in immigration law was Congress, where negotiation would eventually lead to revised immigration policies which neither side would fully embrace, but each side could live with.
Why should Congress negotiate, if whatever it does can be undone by the Executive Branch?
The two extremes are not tenable. We should be treating illegal immigrants fairly and with compassion, whatever that means. At the other extreme, is open borders, which will gradually bankrupt America's safety net for the poor.
Excessive partisanship, driven first by Obama's executive action, and then by Trump's inflammatory rhetoric about building a wall, has made agreement on immigration policy all but impossible.
Trump is partly to blame, but also the Democrats.
4
@Blaise Descartes
Pardon, but what is this about cheaper "foreign" labor - last time I looked Europeans were employing Europeans to build their cars - and enjoy national health insurance, pensions, respectable security and decent wages.
11
@Blaise Descartes Both Sides-ism anyone? Another weak attempt at "those mean Democrats and Obama made me do it" defense. That and 50 cents will get you a warm cup of coffee.
6
@Blaise Descartes Can we please stop repeating that we lost to other car manufacturing countries because of high union labor costs in USA. Think about management's role in that market-share decline: Remember that each new car year brought bigger & heavier US cars and remember more and more gaudy tail-fins. Other countries' managements were pressing their engineers to improve handling and engine output efficiency. As soon as we began to feel the true cost of gasoline, they had the engines for higher mpg cars. We didn't. Management failed their own employees and failed the USA, but they still skimmed any profits for themselves as a reward.
5
Krugman, such a stretch and logical leap. Thanks for adding to the noise of the season.
7
This impeachment thing borders on treason. I'm 72 and have never seen such a long and robust economy in my whole life under any president. Thanks Donald.
7
@Terrence Zehrer If you are age 72, then you witnessed the economic mess that the previous administraton bequeathed to President Obama. As you well know, he saved the US auto industry (despite opposition from the Republicans), stabilized the economy (despite opposition from Republicans), and put us on a path of consistent economic growth which continues to this very day. I'm not sure how you could have missed it. As regards the current impeachment proceedings, suffice it to say that I beg to differ with your assessment.
653
@Terrence Zehrer
This robust economy is not trump generated economy. He is lucky to inherit the fully running robust economy put on tracks by President Obama. trump is trying tamper and destroy it in all directions but till now it is surviving.
308
@Terrence Zehrer
Hahahahahahahaha
Yeah, this economy is working great for the 99%
173
If you go to the store to buy an apple, pick out an apple, and carry it home, are you surprised to open the bag and find an apple inside?
When, in a massive fit of spite against a world passing them by and the “horrors” of having a black man in the White House (twice!), a minority of America’s voters cast a ballot against Hillary, against Democrats, against politicians in general and for a cheesy huckster they recognized from reality tv, what do you think they expected to get?
They didn’t get a puppy or a unicorn.
28
The United States government has been a dysfunctional mess for years. Congress can't get anything done and has pretty much ceded all its powers to the President anyway.
Trump just saw an opportunity and seized it.
2
To Trump, nothing is illegal. He knows that he can hire attorneys who will find some pretext, no matter how laughable, to tie up an issue in Court, indefinitely. He also knows that feeding his base makes him politically immune.
The effectiveness of his approach has been on television all day for the last few days. With absolutely compelling evidence against him, he is almost assured of acquittal in the Senate.
13
Shooting someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue is a crime, but that fact is meaningless unless someone is willing and able to hold the shooter to account. This is something most Americans don't think about (at least before 2016,) yet something Trump has understood and exploited. He - in surprising honesty - even told this us flat out, but many people chose not to listen.
7
President Trump’s transgressions pale against the wealth inequality created by central banking policies - creating a chasm of unearned wealth and undeserved poverty - all making Trump rather irrelevant despite his ever gloating impertinence.
3
Trump does things not because they help, or need to be done, but because he is a bully who likes to swagger around and try to make himself look big by making others look vulnerable. He fails to bully those less civilized than he (and yes, there are a few) but is happy to pick on those whose code of conduct restrains them.
7
Certainly, the targets and victims of Trump's bullying and contempt for them see his behavior as abuse. Even GOP senators are not above his contempt and bald threats. Is the GOP really Trump's party if they have no choice?
2
The world is turning away from the US. This is what Trump has accomplished! The world is seeing Trump's US as completely unreliable and incompetent! As noted by other readers, China is galloping ahead with trade deals/partnerships and projects in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin Am. Brazil is the biggest soy exporter to Asia. Brazil has positive trade relationships with every Asian country, except for South Korea. Asia, Europe & Africa are building their own relationships reducing their dependence on the US. New Zealand & Australia also see their future tied to Asia, not the US. The experts see the US having less strategic influence in Asia in the future but, dependent on Asia for economic growth! Too bad we are all mired in the daily mess of a Trump governed country and missing out on global opportunities and mis-managing our finances.
49
@Sudha Nair Hey, isolationism and protectionism worked so well after World War I. It's not as if it helped bring on another war. Oh, wait.
62
Quite apart from the ludicrous claim of "national security" concerns, Trump (or the incompetents he employs) need to think for maybe 20 seconds about the structure of world trade. If we divide up the world into trading blocs (China-FarEast; SouthAsia-Australia; Americas), there are essentially no products and services unique to the US. We need them more than they need us. The experience with the TPP (creating bridges between blocs) and the EU workarounds to US financial institutions wrt Iran suggest it might not be long before our former allies start to realize this and take ... ummm ... corrective measures to defeat Trump's aims.
3
Using auto tariffs to bully Europe into abandoning the Iran deal is, I think, just a side benefit to the main purpose. The primary goal is simply to drive a wedge between the US and its allies to strengthen Putin's hand globally.
14
More nonsense from the globalist free-traders. Don't you get it? Your neoliberal globalist economics failed the American people. That is why they elected Trump. How dare you to demand that Trump continue the same failed economic and trade policies he was specifically running against in the 2016 elections? The American people democratically decided that they do not want those policies and elected Trump on his promises to change them. That is called democracy - live with it. If you don't like the new policies, then convince the voters to vote for someone else in 2020. For someone who will revert to the same old killing of American industries via unfair trade with so-called 'allies' to protect us all from scary Putin. Good luck with that. Meanwhile Trump managed to extract important unilateral trade concessions from China even without lifting most tariffs - just by threatening to introduce new ones. Tariffs work to make trade fair. The very fact that China agreed to US conditions without getting anything in return clearly shows that US-China trade was not fair before and drained US of money unnecessarily. Is that what Krugman advocates? American workers paying for good life in China and Europe out of their pockets? Because they are our allies? I don't think so.
1
@David
" Trump managed to extract important unilateral trade concessions from China even without lifting most tariffs "
We, Americans, are paying the tariff. On top of that, US-mfg sector is shrinking for the last 6 month because of tariff. With most of tariff stayed in place and continue to do harm- why do you think it's a good thing?
5
The ‘deal’ with China has produced no benefit to America and the trade deficit is worse than ever. And if this is democracy in action and giving the voters what they wanted, why did the House revert to Democratic control in 2018?
1
I have slammed my wallet shut until all these tariffs are gone, I refuse to pay them. Only buying absolute necessities. You should too, it will crash the economy quickly and bring about changes.
When we had a protected auto industry GM and Ford where the Boeing of the auto industry.
1
Professor Krugman is acting as if he fell on this planet from Mars.
Has he heard of 2016 elections? Does he understand who the US president is?
Has he comprehended why Trump won the elections?
He promised the voters to fight the uncontrolled imports. The voters chose him ahead of Hillary Clinton, whose main platform was the open borders, no tariffs and free trade.
Trump claimed the uncontrolled imports lead to the closing of factories and exodus of the manufacturing industries abroad.
For the swing voters that’s the utmost national priority. If you lose your income and home, you cannot protect your family.
The US taxpayers through the NATO subsidize the defense of Germany, South Korea and Japan. Those nations refuse to increase the level of their defense spending in order to alleviate the pressure on the US economy and industries. The US president has the right to impose the import tarrifs because he promised it to the voters.
The Democrats have lost the elections once for being unable to recognize this issue as the most important to their traditional base and the blue color workers.
The question is whether the Democratic leadership is willing to repeat the same mistake twice.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on Pelosi, Clinton, Warren and Clobuchar.
How come those lovely ladies failed to explain those basics to our dear professor?
Is it the part of their gender war strategy deployed to win the next elections? Attacking Sanders smells like that.
2
“The voters chose him instead of Hilary”. Nope. Hilary won the vote by close to three million votes. The Electoral College chose Trump.
14
@MJMt
It wasn't a fair fight at all. She had the unconditional support of the mainstream treatment and preferential treatment without any long-overdue criticism. Under those conditions she should have won by 30 percent...
1
Don’t ignore the 2018 election. The voters saw what they got in 2016 and very clearly voiced their objections.
3
Trump has opened up our trade to massive corruption with his deciding who gets tariff exemptions and who pays. The ultimate con man is running the biggest con game in history. Other than Trump's family and friends, and the patriot red state farmers, everyone loses.
9
Is there anyone this potus won't abuse? Children, women, taxpayers/consumers, anti-trumpists, our allies, our country and constitution, no one is safe. Farmers, and manufacturing employees are now seeing the fruits of "be careful what you wish for".
10
Of course he is. Bullying is his style in everything; we have seen it in several countries, allies and enemies (you figure who is whom, as his idea of enemies seems to be different than what we normally have thought of). He is a dangerous man, undoing what took generations of wise people to do, and he is so enabled he can do it on whim. The Republicans think it is fine. I do not, but hey, I am not on the graft gravy train.
12
Yep, the alleged Commerce report is probably as fake as those manila folders supposedly containing the documents transferring Trump's businesses to his children, which were piled high on a table for the press to see but flanked by guards so that the press could not actually determine if they were full of anything but blank sheets of paper (which I believe is all they contained).
9
What will it take for Trumpites (Ludites) to come to their senses? So much damage has already been done that it will take years to repair. How much more damage will be done as long as he is in power.
But, hey, it's all about the economy. Nothing else is important to those people who only watch Fox News and have no clue what the facts are and don't want to know either.
Pray for impeachment!
Shocking and frightening!
4
As usual, an interesting read from Mr. Krugman. If he'd had more space he could have talked about American undermining of the WTO by refusing to name adjudicators of disputes, or the contraventions of the WTO contained in the recent deal with China. I guess that's what happens when a weak politician goes into a card game with the Chinese cheaters. The easiest way out for them is to bring you into their cheating game. As a foreigner and a friend of the USA, I have to say, America's enemies are laughing at you; America's friends are laughing bitter tears.,
41
@Rob Yes, the way to deal with China would have been a broad coalition of countries that play by the rules. Instead, we've conveyed the message that big countries don't need no rules. And China is a very big country.
58
RE: Every trade expert I know considered the notion that German or Japanese cars constitute a threat to national security absurd.
Trade is one thing, National Security is another . The US needs a manufacturing infrastructure that in times of War can be converted.
The US was saved in WWII by converting automobile manufacturing plants to air plane manufacturing
By the end of the war, Ford had built 86,865 complete aircraft, 57,851 airplane engines, 4,291 military gliders, and thousands of engine superchargers and generators
Those aircrafts were decisive in defeating the Nazis. They could only be built because the US had very large automotive infrastructure - converted in 6 month from cars to aircrafts
The automotive industry in the US has continuously shrunk by outsourcing to Mexico and China
You CAN make an argument that it has not yet shrunk to the point where it impacts National Security.
But you can NOT make the argument "Every trade expert I know considered the notion ..."
Trade experts are not qualified to make decisions on the National Security.
If Mr. Krugman wants to present the case the President exceeded his authority he needs to present an National Security Analysis - not the opinion of "trade experts"
2
This isn’t the 1940s. We have more than enough defense contractors who have been kept fat and happy since WWIiI. We won’t be converting Ford factories to build tanks because we don’t need them.
As an aside, Trump’s defense budget this year is $750 billion. The entire annual deficit is $1 trillion. The biggest budget item by far is defense.
5
I fail to see how the US economy continues to chug along - certainly that’s how it’s trumpeted by Trump. Isn’t the stock market overvalued and overdue for a big correction? Isn’t manufacturing in recession? And the so-called full employment numbers? Do they capture the reality of these jobs?
Even with the recent China deal or perhaps a forthcoming one with the UK, Trump’s capricious choke hold on the economy via tariffs and sanctions will continue. We cannot perform a controlled experiment relative to how the economy would perform under global free trade agreements. In a different world corporations would have much greater confidence to invest and grow, not be on edge about the levels or imminence of tariffs, or disruption of their supply chains.
Under the new China deal Premier Xi would be considered lax by his politburo if China did not continue to steal intellectual property and drive its trucks through gaping holes in the new trade agreement, given Trump’s lousy reputation.
And now Germany probably looks at us as a laughing stock!
134
@domplein2 The World Economy is so huge; Trump can dent it with his crazy;absurd; ridiculous sanctions(Trump sanctioned our Allies;for goodness sake) that it will take time to show up......but it is coming...and it is not good
27
The economy is chugging along because the Federal Reserve is pumping money into it at a rate usually only seen during a severe recession. When the Fed stops the money, there will probably be a major correction.
I think China’s position is that it doesn’t do any of the things it promises to correct in the agreement it signed, so it has only agreed to continue its usual practices.
37
@SandraH.
Much of the stimulus (low interest rates, corporate and individual tax cuts, quantitative easing, repealed regulations ,etc) during the Trump bull market seems to have skipped the step where it goes into investment in the real economy. Instead it went into securities markets where it bid up share prices. Corporate investment in plant and equipment is now declining. This cannot go on forever, and things that cannot go on forever, don't.
44
When that glorious day arrives, and we can say “former President Trump” (and breathe free again), Congress needs to begin the work of changing many statutes that give the Executive Branch various emergency powers. They were written assuming the President would be a person of good will. We now know that’s a very dangerous assumption.
26
The GOP senate loves Trump's every move. It's like they are his star-crossed lovers.
When things go south for this administration and the country, and it will eventually, I hope voters will make the GOP pay at the polls.
11
Apparently, DJT was elected king. The GOP will not oppose anything he does. there is absolutely nothing that is problematic for them. So what if his tariffs are phony? His judges will not hold him accountable. Neither will the GOP in Congress.
7
Yes it’s illegal and no justification. It’s time to look into investments that he and people in his inner circle could be making as he manipulates the markets.
25
Curious to know how tariff proceeds are accounted for, and how Trump may be allowed to use them. Believe he bragged that he used some of the proceeds to fund this subsidies to farmers. If this continues, he will undoubtedly spread the largesse to special interest groups prior to the election.
9
Wealthy Wall Street appointed Trump. Let's stay focused on that. They want more, and more, and more....as they leave.
13
Just another manifestation of Trump's thuggish instincts: I'll show you who's boss, and I'll dispense "favors" as I see fit. The survival of America's democracy depends on drawing clearer lines for what is presidential discretion and what is not. We're not the home of the brave--we eagerly capitulate in the face of claimed threats (economic, religious,...)--and we won't be the land of the free much longer at this rate.
20
Recently, buying tile and interior doors for a project, the tile had been discontinued due rising costs due to tariffs and the doors had gone up in cost forty percent.
Peter Navarro says we are not paying for the tariffs... well in this narrow example we sure are.
Trump and his minions have deconstructed the truth.
55
Not only is he abusing his tariff power, it hasn't worked. The American deficit in goods and services is set to rise this year. So Americans paid more for goods and services and got nothing extra in return.
72
@Canadian Roy Yes, mainly the tariffs just diverted trade, so that we import some stuff from Vietnam instead of China.
31
Trump began his re-election campaign the day he was elected. Every regulation cut, executive act signed, speech, and action have been for the purpose of maintaining his base, intimidating his party members and infuriating his opponents. Americans seem to react to the loudest voice; Trump’s constant shouts next to a helicopter or in a rally that tariffs bring billions to the Treasury have convinced the public. This lie, along with thousands of others, have had the hoped for effect with too many people beaten down, just accepting what they hear.
29
@DO5 Right. Or another way to put it - Trump began fulfilling his election promises the day he was inaugurated. I know, it surprised many people, as it is hardly expected of any politician nowadays. If you want to call it "re-election campaign" - fine. But I wish more re-election campaigns were like that.
5
Sure. Trump promised to protect SS, Medicare and Medicaid, so in his latest budget he cuts $2 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid (enough to pay for his tax overhaul?) and $26 billion from SS.
He promised to get us out of the Middle East, so he increases troop levels by 50,000 and almost starts a war with Iran—for the second time.
He promised to drain the swamp, so he surrounds himself with the most corrupt cabinet since Grant. More of his associates have been indicted than any other modern president.
He promises to help farmers and manufacturers, so he starts a long-standing trade war with China that bankrupts hundreds of farms and manufacturers.
What promise did he keep?
39
Was that the same day Democrats began their efforts to impeach Pres Trump? The righteous indignation from the Left is palpable.
1
Of course if it’s not good for the US, it makes Vladimir Putin happy, and the Donald, and Republicans, need to keep Vlad happy so he’ll help steal the next election, which Republicans are supporting by insuring no swing states have paper ballot backups. In the end, that helps ensure the oligarchic wealth transfer, the ultimate goal of all GOP/Trump positions
31
@Gary Shaffer Right. Making Putin unhappy should be the main purpose of US' existence. When Putin dies US should just happily dissolve itself.
1
Seems to be working. Sometimes thinking outside the box is the right way to go. No, thinking outside the box is almost always the right way to go. Let's stick with the facts.
4
So, in what sector of the economy are the tariffs working ? Not in manufacturing. Not in farming; we are spending a fortune subsidizing farming. What sector ? And the tariffs are "justified" by national security ? Yes, "thinking outside the box" or - more aptly - not thinking at all about anything and relying on some wisdom you came up with while watching a TV show, it's really working !
3
@Froat
Got China to the table, got movement from China without lifting tariffs, and can take off remaining tariffs as a carrot for improved behavior as well as a synthetic rate cut if needed. Seems pretty smart to me.
@Froat:
Working for whom? I think both sides fail to see the whole picture, filtering out information/facts that don’t fit their view of the world. Some focus on the cheating and lying of one person or another, ignoring the real problems people have. Whether you love Mr Trump or not, he is the product of where the political “leaders” have taken the country. Establishment Democrats allowed and opened the door for Mr Trump.
Mr Trump,in the long term, is irrelevant in so many ways.
Where do we go from here?
1
"It’s a principle nobody who believes in American ideals should accept."
The lack of a definite punishment enforceable by the police authority makes everything that Trump does practically legal The USA has a long way to go in term of real democracy and accountability.
22
Dr. Krugman lays it out nicely. Trump uses the dubious excuse of "National Security" to do whatever he wants. That includes imposing tariffs, an end run around Congress to build his border wall, and prevent witnesses like John Bolton from testifying in the impeachment trial. One size fits all.
Tariff Man should really be called "National Security Man," who can leap any obstacle with a single threadbare justification.
43
Imposing economic sanctions and trade tariffs is hardly an effective means of improving the ever-increasing US trade imbalance. Trump's sanctions and tariffs reduce the potential export market for American agricultural and industrial products.
Our trade imbalance is caused by the failure of American manufacturers to produce attractive, reliable, and fairly priced goods that Walmart and Amazon will stock, and American and foreign shoppers will buy.
The reason our manufacturing sector is failing is not that US labor costs are too high. Germany, the third largest trading nation after China and the US, has higher labor costs. The fault lies primarily with investors and enterprise managers.
American investors are too cautious and unresponsive in exploiting market opportunities, and too demanding of high rates of return and quick paybacks. No one can beat China's mom-and-pop capitalism in recognizing and responding to opportunities in the low end manufacturing market.
America's professional enterprise managers are a privileged class of underchallenged ol'boy ivy leaguers, inept at recognizing technological possibilities and managing industrial processes that create world-class high-end manufactured products. America's complex, indecisive legal processes and overly-generous patent protections also burden US products with irrelevant costs.
China builds, the US debates!
26
It's about moving supply chains away from China, which is a perceived future competitor and possibly enemy. It has worked to some extent...We have weakened them. With the corporate tax cuts passed earlier, it's a good time to take on China rather than wait. Previous Presidents promised to do something but never kept their promises. Trump said he would do this and he is.
@Lindsey Everhart Reese ... No, it's about jealousy of China's decisive, effective leadership in social development and economic competition. It's a desperate effort to slow down China's march to the top!
1
Federal Reserve study shows how the trade war backfired.
Trump's supporters say it's working out just great.
Who's "winning"?
Certainly not the US.
68
@Martin
How's the economy doing?
1
It doesn't matter. Americans will continue to buy BMW, Mercedes and Porsche because these are the best cars. Cadillac and Buick just cannot compete. They lost the race long ago.
When I was a kid growing in Europe my father's dream was to own an American car. Today nobody would buy them even if you discount them by 20%
America was ready to go to war against those who oppose free trade and enterprise. Now they lost the race, they put up tariffs. A desperate step into terminal obsolescence...
82
@sandcastle
Don't forget now the Lexus. I remember in the 1960's buying the VW bug where the door closed with a thud and not a ringing bang. So this is an old story, and I had to wonder why we could not produce really competitive cars or products. Since then, we never had an American car. If prices go up due to further tariffs on cars. this will not affect our buying.
4
Not true, I bought a Ford Fiesta. Oops sorry, parts (body and drivetrain from Germany, assembled in Mexico). As were my previous 2 Ford Focuses. (Both made it past 250K miles with 0 problems).
Sorry UAW, little to no trust in your workers ability.
1
@sandcastle Actually people buy a lot of American cars, plus European cars made in America. Remember, the Germans don't just sell luxury cars, they sell a lot of ordinary cars. I personally drive a 2004 Jetta ...
11
Actually, at least Louis XIV had a bright cabinet and he did listen to them. Trump, like Louis XIV, lacks in the department of understanding state issues but does not listen to enlighten advisors. Instead he listens to FOX, to some of his cabinet members and, to some of his also lacking family members.
By the way, I voted for Betsy DeVos, not Wilbur Ross (he up there, though) as the worst cabinet member just because I cannot get over "some schools may need teachers with guns to defend children from potential bears". Somebody told me potential bears were bears about to be born.
43
Even though I doubt any thinking person knows the Ukraine deal is not the only (and maybe not the worst) illegal and immoral thing Trump has done or is doing as president, it's important for us to continue to be informed of these kinds of stories, so I appreciate Mr. Krugman's, and others, efforts. Somehow, someway press coverage of the president and his advisors has to change though. I'm not sure how but the questions have to be more varied, follow-up more persistent, and identifying lies more consistent and pronounced. Also, networks should refuse to interview people like presidential aide Peter Navarro on his own. There should always be someone else giving the real story along side Trump's most distrustful aides. It's not fair to viewers.
102
@Kate M. Yes. This particular story seemed weirdly unreported to me, which is why I devoted a column to it.
32
Imposing tariffs to rectify trade imbalances is his perogative.
It's illuminating that it's not inflationary.
China is on the back foot despite authoritarian powers.
5
@Marc Harries No, it's not his prerogative; it belongs to Congress. If you're going to comment, perhaps it might be best to become familiar with American law first.
30
@Marc Harries not according to international law....tariffs are allowable when your trading partner is cheating and the WTO agrees....not when there is a trade imbalance.
@Marc Harries
No, it isn't. Read the article.
"His threat is probably illegal; his refusal to produce documents about his decision process is definitely illegal."
Then why didn't the Democrats cite a specific law that was violated in the charges?
"Trump Is Abusing His Tariff Power, Too; More contempt for the rule of law."
The president should not have the authority to raise or lower tariffs. By the Constitution, the power to raise revenue is solely vested in the House of Representatives. I would consider any exceptions through legislation to delegate that authority to the executive branch to be unconstitutional. Not even the Senate has the power to initiate legislation that raises revenue.
Paul, you should be complaining that any president has the power to do this, not just Trump.
5
@hm1342 I would counter that Trump's actions are clearly against the intent of the law, and that a functioning congress and court would limit them.
The issue isn't the law. It's the Republicans in Congress and on the bench that enable the law to be broken without consequences.
46
@Edward Allen: "The issue isn't the law. It's the Republicans in Congress and on the bench that enable the law to be broken without consequences."
The issue is most certainly the law. It's unconstitutional. The founders had a very good reason to keep the ability to raise revenue in the House.
4
@hm1342
"Paul, you should be complaining that any president has the power to do this, not just Trump."
Except HE'S the only one who has done it.
1
Mid-nite Mitch McConnell is complicit.
Along with Mrs McConnell, Trumps's handpicked secretary of transportation, Elaine Chao.
Her extended family in China is making millions of dollars, while US citizens pay the tariff penalties.
Senate and house republicans knew they couldn't levy deeper taxes on the middle and lower classes than they already have without being held accountable in 2020.
Mr Trump and mid-nite Mitch make up a small portion of the budget shortfall, by forcing cloaked tax increases in the form of tariff penalties.
Big business in the meantime has been given virtual tax exemptions with the tax bill signed by Mr Trump.
22
France's and German automakers are in a bit of a bind between the hardened approaches by both the Trump and Xi administrations. The latter insists that both countries engage with Huawei in developing their 5G technologies under threat of punishing them, at least Germany, through their automobile exports. China is the biggest vehicles market for German car manufacturers. Trump's 25% tariff threats against Germany and France may backfire. Presently BMW is the US's biggest car exporter. With 70% of their record 2019 production of 412,000 cars slated for export from their Spartanburg, SC, plant, their largest plant in the world for the time being, as they ramp up production in China and South Africa to meet increasing demands. The uncertainties of Trump's tariff wars may well evolve into cut backs in US production and a loss of jobs.
4
@Rudy Ludeke
“Presently BMW is the US's biggest car exporter...412,000 cars slated for export from their Spartanburg, SC, plant, their largest plant in the world...The uncertainties of Trump's tariff wars may well evolve into cut backs in US production and a loss of jobs.”
Lindsey might want to let golf-bro Trump cheat to win their links dates from now on. Although Trump wouldn’t hesitate to burn Graham and replace him with another sycophant in waiting.
BMW saved SC from utter ruin in 1992. Hurricane Hugo destroyed the tourism sector, textiles left and tobacco demand dried up. If BMW cut back production the impact to the SC economy would be huge.
1
The "imperial" "presidency" of the lying crook in the WH knows no bounds. Certainly, we've seen how relatively easy it's been to submarine our laws and statutes with faux claims of "national security" being, somehow (and they REFUSE to produce any document that might support their claims) at risk if we continue to allow free trade with our allies to continue, untaxed. The grift is strong in this one.
This underlines the scope of repairs that MUST be done to our laws and regulatory controls, once the crime family exits the stage. It will be a "yuge" job.
Thanks, once again, to "Reince Priebus" and the RNC, for allowing an unqualified incompetent to become their candidate.
16
Abuse of power is the point. If dishonest tariffs on allies were straightforward, bipartisan, and strictly legal it would do nothing to soothe Trump's psyche. And that is really all that matters.
Abuse of power, along with recreational cruelty and grifting, is what gets Trump out of bed in the morning and into the Oval Office at the crack of 11:30 am sometimes two even three times a week.
If you want something that would truly help American competitiveness, like investments in our crumbling infrastructure, you would need to tell Trump he would have to let Congress direct the investments or he'd be abusing presidential power, that Adam Schiff would demand assurances that the Trump organization wouldn't profit or be redirected to his beloved wall, and that at least three endangered species would become extinct. Make sure California doesn't get a dime and then maybe we would finally get that infrastructure week.
Otherwise what's the point if no one is outraged, nothing is stolen, and he doesn't get to hurt some group or another to show everyone just how "strong" he is?
18
Timing is everything and people are creatures of time.
The deficit was announced to have reached a Trillion Dollars, then Trump reacted like a frog and jumped to start tariffs.
1
Mr. Krugman consistently attacks Trump's tariffs as being ineffective instruments of trade policy. Fine, we can agree on that. But tariffs have other purposes which Krugman choose not to address. They include protecting domestic industries, and remedying trade distortions.
Take auto sales. A decades long pattern has led to an ever-growing percent of US purchases of foreign cars. While plenty of the proceeds remain in America, more would stay if Americans bought domestic. Moreover, foreign automakers have benefited from billions of dollars in state tax incentives. And most important, GM pays its works an average salary of $61,000 while Toyota pays $50,000.
If you can't find a constructive reason for imposing tariffs on foreign auto makers, you aren't paying attention. And GM union employees earnestly request your assistance in protecting their wages against unfair competition with Tennessee scabs working for Toyota.
9
@michjas And who was it that bailed out GM so those union workers have jobs?
30
@michjas
Those Toyota workers are employed in the US. Not some foreign country. Toyota's plants are located in Alabama, California, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
The US collects billions in taxes from those workers and the company.
Most importantly, tariffs may put US workers out of jobs at those Toyota plants. They won't magically move over to GM at higher salary.
So no. I can't find much of anything constructive about imposing those tariffs.
The problem lies elsewhere.
60
You're talking about tariffs, but seems like you are actually referring to issues unrelated to tariffs. If Toyotas are being assembled in Tennessee, why would they be subject to tariffs? Tennessee is in the US last I checked. And I note that Honda apparently builds almost all its US-sold vehicles in the US, and Chicago Tribune actually rates Honda Odyssey as the car that is most "America-made" in terms of percentage of price tag contributed to US economy.
And given GM has assembly factories in Mexico, shouldn't GM be subjected to tariffs? You're talking about states giving foreign companies incentives to build factories in the US. But aren't those incentives actually creating jobs in the US. What are those incentives compared to what GM and Ford have already been getting, including the massive bailout after 2008? What I'm reading is we should favor one group of American workers over another group of American workers.
11
Maybe Trump does destructive stuff because nothing makes him happier than doing destructive stuff. Replacing fruits and vegetables in school lunches for instance with pizza and fries. What could be the point of that if not ruining kids' health?
51
A good starting place for Trump would be kibbitzing with pizza and French fry industrialists at his gaudy country clubs, sympathetic in the locker rooms and restaurants to their business desires after they paid him $200,000 a year in membership fees, compared to never meeting on the links with vegetable farmers. A professional conman like Trump instinctively knows how to pick his marks and he’ll pass right over the ones he doesn’t think have enough money to bother bilking. If industrial food magnates may also have some healthy foods in their portfolio, but the bucks are in junk and that’s what Trump gloms onto.
5
@Jim It was also Mrs. Obama's birthday present from the man child.
3
Trump shot the tariff, but he did not shoot the duties.
24
The problem is that American ideals were discarded on a slippery slope since the Bush administration. There has still been very little progress in understanding, or presenting to the American public, the truth about the secrets of that administration. Obama chose not to prosecute Bush administration crimes, and Seymour Hersh has damning allegations about the Bush administration's principals and how Obama chose to both overlook their crimes and move on from them. If Americans knew the forces at work in our two most recent Republican administrations, they'd be hopping mad. But the mainstream media usually act as guardians of those secrets, with today's Times story on Saudi Arabia and 9/11 notwithstanding.
7
Why worry?
trump says China is paying the tariffs.
Another lie.
Nothing he says is believable.
18
Why haven't the Democrats running for president not bring this up? Too complicated for the common man to understand? Doesn't pole well with voters?
3
@Matt586 I think that's exactly it. Tariffs played well in 2016 because on the surface it's "America sticking it to evil foreigners" and "more jobs for Americans." Trying to explain the negative consequences and even the very fact it's a tax on Americans is a hard sell.
7
Think the Dems will bring up DJT marching in the ban-abortion parade? Too complicated? Too touchy? Let’s not muddy the H2O!
L'etat C'est Moi is attributed to Louis XIV, architect of Versailles. But in reading history--Trump sounds more like Louis XVI who was married to Marie Antionette-
And we all know how that ended.....not well
11
The US just looks more broken every day it carries the Trump monkey on its back.
48
@Steve Bolger ....well said
1
Trump has been an abusive bully his entire life, he doesn't know any other way to act. From what I have read so was his father. He has never had to pay the price for his abuse, specifically he has escaped jail time. He has spent his whole life not answering to anyone. He has cheated vendors and contractors, he has hired illegals to work in his hotels and golf courses, he scammed students in his university, his charitable foundation was a phony front. The only consequence has been relatively minor monetary fines. If we voters do not remove this man in November we can kiss our democracy good by as well as all of our teetering allies.
49
Trump needs to demonize foreigners to help keep his rabid voter base in a state of fear and loathing.
Even though Japanese and German cars are vastly superior to the junk that falls off American manufacturers assembly lines, xenophobia works great to amp up the hate for 'others' in Trumpistan's Ford-Chevy-GM pick-up truck mentality.
By attacking every decent country that does things way better than America, Trump can feed his bases ignorant Dunning-Kruger belief that America is somehow still #1....although the reality is that we're only #1 in sham elections, gun violence, global warming deniers and Flat Earthers.
America under Trump does almost nothing well anymore; it's even given up on Constitutional law and checks and balances under Trump.
But as long as Trump can feed his base somebody new to hate, everything is good in Trumpistan.
We know who endangers national security: the impeached President.
298
@Socrates What will his base think of his latest comment about cutting Social Security and Medicare in his 2nd term?
55
@Socrates: "America under Trump does almost nothing well anymore; it's even given up on Constitutional law and checks and balances under Trump."
That's part of the problem, thinking everything that happens in the country, whether good or bad, is somehow the responsibility of a president. If we're going down the tubes it's because we keep electing leaders who really don't care about the Constitution. And we listen to the media who don't care about the truth but instead advance some corrupt political ideology.
7
@Jacquie
They felt the same when Obama and HRC discussed it.
And has the price of medicine and medical care gone down yet?
1
Republicans would be panic-buying Mercedes right now if they thought there were a chance of these tariffs becoming reality.
5
Real Republicans do not have to be price buyers. In fact, for a certain part of the market, paying an additional tariff or guzzler fee is a boost to the show off motivation for the purchase in the first place. But for those supporters who would never buy something like a Mercedes Benz, the play is a natural for Trump, doubling down on the appeal of both racism and xenophobia.
1
The December 2017 Tax reform and cuts law passed which has increased the budget deficit up to one Trillion Dollars now, and Trump and his Wall st administration is now trying to reduce it by taxing the 99% of Americans to enrich the 1% who now pay less taxes. They still get their wars for oil and police services, highway transportation work, employee support, and the ears of a corrupt Congress and President that made it all happen and can't get out of it without doing more harm. There is always justice in the world, in what form, time will tell. Hopefully November 2020 will be that justice, if we are here?
5
Perhaps attacking German car exports is a good thing. Germans have depended on the success of their exports to boss the entire EU around based on their image of "hard work". While in reality much of their success was due to US preferential treatment after the war (much like Japan.) They became so entitled they started lying about the emissions of their diesel cars. Merkel lobbied the EU to adopt precisely the tests that were easy to doctor. Many researchers in the EU were aware but no-one dared to speak out. It took a US researcher to blow the whistle.
Is this "national security risk" route the only option Trump has to attack German car exports? What would be the proper process in your view?
2
I'm not a big fan of 'globalism'. I see average workers in America losing. The wealth of the world concentrates & the many are left behind. Here, too.
We've really been complicit in the fall of the average American, watching the costs of life rise much faster than wages. We've watched capital take over & Republicans continually cut taxes on the rich. We are destroying 'community', equality, humanity.
When things go bad, many times people like a strong, loud man. Germany after WWI & its economic collapse. And, today, in much of the world, right-wing autocrats are all the rage. Why? For the same reasons: fear, uncertainty, falling standard-of-living. The loudmouth, liar, Trump talks of so many different 'enemies' that you're bound to like/hate one. He's standing up for us, against them. Those dirty Europeans will pay tariff-man, our brave leader. We're such bad citizens, we know so little of so many issues and care not. Easier life that way (though much worse country).
I'm enjoying the Senate impeachment hearings. The Democrats are awesome, with the truth & showing everyone what a demon-child we have as king. Traitor. Vainglorious, greedy, spoiled brat. Braggart, bully (especially towards women), racist, draft-dodger (while demeaning McCain and POWs; he likes 'soldiers that weren't captured'), that brags about not paying the taxes that pay for our military (though he pretends patriotism for their votes). Worst leader ever; but, loud & proud. We kinda led ourselves here. Sad.
21
Ok Paul .. his economy is far better than any one during your tenure in government so your complaining because he is opposed to elite globalism falls on deaf ears
3
@RJPost, what if the economy hasn't been helped by the tarrifs? What if it's better in part because of massive deficits?
3
Face the facts. The current economy looks exactly like the previous six years — equal rate of growth and equal increase in employment, except for the ballooning deficit and trade imbalance. There is no Trump miracle here, just a strong economy built during the Obama years.
1
“…why does Trump even want to impose tariffs on European cars…
Get your facts straight, Paul…
Big Guy only wants to impose US tariffs on European cars being exported to China…
And if that starts a trade war, and he then has to slap some of the same stiff sticker-surcharges on Volvos viaducting to Vienna – so be it…
And double, if Burisma in the mix on either end of the trades…
We’re in it to win it…
C’mon – how did you think Steve planned to fund free tax cuts for all, anyway???
PS
In a gesture of good will – the sort that only he can envision, only to later get enjoindered – he’s thinking of letting South Carolina join the EU…
When he dropped this concept on Lagarde at Davos – she was visibly overcome with emotion…
Though the ever-quick-thinking Merkel caught the historic happening in an Instagram of the three…
Meanwhile, Mette – off in the corner – frantically checking to see if Greenland still part of the kingdom, on Google Maps and Wikipedia…
As it turns out, an 80,000 square mile ice sheet had broken away earlier in the day…
But, hey – that’s only water…
3
He's never followed the law or any rules and regulations in his entire life, why would he start now? He's gotten away with lying, cheating and stealing with absolutely no consequences so why would he think they'll be any now? When his obsequious base and obedient Republican delegations assure him every day there will be none, now or ever.
Abuse is his brand. It's been very profitable and that's not going to change. It works. He won.
16
Got it wrong again Paul. The President has statutory authority under section 232 “to adjust the imports” as necessary, including through tariffs or quotas.
5
This is what you would expect unfortunately from a man without the intellect to comprehend even basic to moderate level economics, whose limited attention span whirls him from one self-proclaimed exigency to another, and whose narcissistic orientation never really allows for consideration of the general welfare. It’s really scary. Where are the rails on this man?
27
Why try to prove that Ukraine was an abuse of power? Better to look high and low for a single instance where DJT had power and DIDN'T abuse it. I guarantee they won't find a single instance in public or private life (see Access Hollywood) where he didn't abuse power.
13
Of all the many and grievous affronts this administration has subjected us to, Dr. Krugman has zeroed in on what seems to me the worst. To a man, they have followed their leader in adopting a "because I said so" motto of governance. No news conferences, no published public records, no response to subpoenas and requests for documents, redactions, stonewalling, insufferable silence or tantrums at the first hint of a question. As Senator Lee cried: "It's immoral, it's unAmerican, it's WRONG." Amen.
670
@teach
I'm glad you brought up press conferences. I actually forgot that we don't have them anymore. It seems to be the new normal. But it's not normal at all. Traditions are being swept away, lost in a vast sea of constant crises. Over time, we're being psychologically conditioned to accept Trump's behavior. That's truly frightening.
61
@teach -Trump and his enablers are erasing the means for us to know what's really going on and to hold people accountable in his administration. He's destroying evidence in the research we taxpayers have bought and paid for. He's destroying institutional knowledge and the careers of our experts.
37
@teach
"No news conferences..."
They seem a distant memory. And even the ad hoc helicopter news conferences haven't happened in a long time. The only place Trump gives us even one way news, is at his cult-of-personality rallies. I guess you could say, he allows response back in the form of cheering or chants of "Lock him/her up."
7
Thankfully we have someone in office who cares about the US. In the end we will have better trade agreements. Action drives change, but talking is just hype as the opposing party just nods knowing there will not be any ramifications.
@JimH
No, reciprocal tariffs will hit the BMW plant in Tennessee , and these US exports, will be reduced, and jobs will be lost.
Remember what happened to the Midwest farmers to selling their soybeans and pork to China? Suddenly reciprocal tariffs basically stopped these US farm exports to China. Other countries have now started supplying the Chinese markets, markets the US farmers will never get back. Meanwhile the Trump administration has now poured in more money to save the Midwest farmers (and their votes); more money than was spent on the Auto company bailouts.
2
@JimH "we have someone in office who cares about the US"
And just who would that be?
2
@JimH
"as the opposing party just nods knowing there will not be any ramifications."
You're talking about the Republicans, right?
1
The most curious aspect of the Trump era is why European nations have not simply decided that enough is enough, openly fighting back against the bully. I know, sometimes the bully wins. But if you don't fight him, he always wins. The spinelessness of the Eurozone is far harder to explain than that of corrupt fellow Republicans here at home.
5
Thinking back to one of the earlier instances of his Trump's trade policy by fiat, in 2018, he placed sanctions on ZTE, the big Chinese electronics company, and then removed them three days after a Chinese bank lent $500 million to a real estate project in which he had invested. That looked to me like he had taken a straight-up bribe and then delivered. I was disappointed by a the lack of follow-up by the Democrats in Congress.
Anyway, surely the lesson Trump learned was that he can get bribes by imposing sanctions or tariffs and so repeated doing so for no defensible reason. Once the Chinese recognized their blunder, they stopped offering bribes and we've had a couple of years of standstill with them until the bad PR for both sides lead to the half-baked agreement earlier this month.
I don't see any reason to push the analysis beyond simple bribe solicitation from our crooked President.
34
"On every front, Trump treats U.S. policy as a tool he can deploy as he chooses, in his own interests, without seeking congressional approval or even informing Congress about what he’s doing or why."
And you know what, Dr. Krugman? He'll continue doing this until he's stopped. He's gleeful in his insistence he is free do anything--the sky's the limit.
The problem isn't just Trump, it's those who don't stop him. By the time they get around to trying, on something near and dear to their hearts, he'll be pretty much unstoppable.
Trump has concluded that by breaking so many laws all at the same time, he can keep investigators off guard because they don't know what to pursue first.
And so dies our republic.
55
What this Op-Ed illustrates and what Trump's Ukraine/Russia/China debacles show is that the three branches of Government are not co-equals.
Congress, unless if both branches are controlled by the opposing political party is toothless. Maybe they should also have a super-majority to over-ride a lawless President.
I am also not quite convinced the Judicial branch at the top most level is independent. This doubt keeps rising and I tamp it down but this week's decision to defer the Obamacare case until after the election again raised doubts.
10
@Gary Valan " the Judicial branch at the top most level "
Wait, I thought you said three co-equal branches. And from what we've been "gifted" from Roberts (and Alito), as in Citizens United and Hobby Lobby, to name just two, I'd say the SCOTUS is on the down-slope. Roberts has shown himself to be underwhelming in his Senate Impeachment trial appearance.
I strongly suspect he has a phone under his robe.
3
@Gary Valan
Anyone who thinks the judicial branch is independent is not paying attention
2
Respectfully, the only thing which "poses a national security risk" to the U.S. is # 45 - can the U.S. impose "tariffs" on him, perhaps ensure he actually pays income taxes - and punitive damages - to reimburse U.S. citizens for the extraordinary pain and suffering they (and the rest of us who have to put up with this mess) have endured for the past three plus years?
Can a president be sued after he is no longer in office? Isn't there an equivalent of "First do no harm"?
6
@mariamsaunders Yesterday he DOUBLED the room rates at his Doral "resort", just before he and his hoard of SS "helpers" check in for some RNC "event".
Emoluments clause? What's that?? Is no one in government watching ANYTHING?
2
Abuse of power and obstruction run rampant in this Administration which this issue illustrates very well. The stunning fact is that all Republican's sitting in both the House and Senate are perfectly fine with this behavior which effectively makes their roles irrelevant. I guess they are OK with that as well as long as the checks keep coming, premium healthcare coverage is maintained and the K Street gang keeps providing meals and campaign funding. Not a bad deal unless of course you are one of their constituents.
17
Detroit brought this on themselves many decades ago when the leaders changed from the ways of the very smart Henry Ford who built it with practical goals. Then the leaders allowed the Marketing forces to overrule the practical engineers. That meant we went from the little "Tin Lizzy" model "T" to the S.U.V.'s. In that time, foreign builders came here and filled the need for fuel efficient small cars the demand of which grew from embargo's and oil profiteering. Now the foreign makers are here and still, Detroit can't see the winds of change.
But beside the background, the Tariffs are likely meant to offset the large budget deficit increase Trump's and Republicans tax cuts created.
The wealthy are bailing out and ruining us as they leave.
And the Trump Wall st wants to keep us in.
4
I believe that you are overlooking a very viable explanation for tariffs on everything. Tariffs generate revenue. Revenue from tariffs narrow the budget deficit by imposing a flat tax on American consumers. Smaller budget gaps make reckless tax cuts for corporations and billionaires more palatable for Americans who worry about the deficit. The tariff idea was a component of Paul Ryan's tax plan to cut taxes for nearly ten years. It was called the BAT. Bat was omitted from Trump's tax cut; but Trump is recouping the revenue through direct tariffs. Tariffs are here to stay.
3
@Bill
Then Why do we have trillion dollar deficts?
5
@Bill I don't want to get into the Border Adjustment Tax, except to say that it wasn't actually a tariff. As for the revenue effects of Trump tariffs, (a) they don't care about deficits (b) federal receipts for 2019 were $200 billion less than CBO projected before the tax cuts and trade war, so this isn't having any meaningful impact.
34
I would like to know when this term, "national security," was first used and how its use has developed over the years. It would seem to me that it has been increasingly used to hide malfeasance by government officials and agencies. Anytime somebody or some agency in government has something nefarious to hide, they invoke "national security."
Trump has been using claims of protecting national security to abuse the power to impose tariffs. He's also using it to withhold documents and testimony in his impeachment trial.
As Paul Krugman states, Trump's actions are " a broader pattern of abuse of power and contempt for the rule of law."
28
For the thousandth time:
The entire Party of Trump (formerly known as the GOP) owns this lock, stock and barrel. They enable his legion of sins by inaction at best.
71
@Nathan Hansard I hear what you are saying and tend to somewhat agree. But what it's coming down to is 'the United States of America owns this lock stock and barrel. And that's the way it should be. No longer will you be able to blame bad decisions or policies on one Party as if that should absolve the electorate from any responsibilty. That was a Clinton policy or a Bush war. That judge made the deciscion he did because he was an Obama appointee. No more. You elected the parties (possibly with an assist from Russia). Live with those deciscions.
1
@RNS
No, I had nothing to do with electing Trump, Bush II, Bush I or Reagan. You can blame me for Clinton and Obama.
1
When the Senate in the person of Senator Sessions aided Trump's campaign starting the promotion of Donald Trump by the Senate and the military friendly Television industry, the motion was set for these days. The outcome was always predetermined from the time Trump alluded to civil unrest were he not elected, in a televised appearance before the election, to the scheduling of a Washington military parade just five days after the 2018 election in what I expected to be a coup if the Democrats won the entire Congress, the future is obvious.
I advise those who would want to live peacefully without guns everywhere, to find new homes in other smaller nuclear free nations. With your excellent educations, you will live peacefully in prosperity.
The wealthy have already known the future for decades and have been exporting wealth and businesses to support them elsewhere where they would travel on their personal craft to safety leaving the nation in ruins.
This is likely why Trump has sabotaged so much about America and negotiated building outside the country, including in negotiations during his campaign to build a tower in Moscow. Perhaps you will be enlightened now.
Let the young pioneers be the seeds of the peaceful New World, free of military and danger.
I end with the question; if Trump deported all the Russian diplomatic spies, why did he allow the Russian state television to remain down the street from the White House within eavesdropping range.
6
BTW.....................the freest trading nation in the world has had a tariff of 25% on light truck imports since the 60s. Then most galling.........Canadian lumber.
6
The tariffs are one part of the story. Trump is using his tweets and tariffs to manipulate the stock market. You can bet Trump and his cronies and his Republican enablers are given advance warning when the latest tariffs or threats of tariffs are going to hit; they short selected stocks on the way down, make a bundle, buy them back at the lower prices and then make another bundle on the way up when Trump tweets out one of his phony baloney Phase X tentative agreements and the market bounces back up. Rinse and repeat. I'm not the first one to come up with this notion; Trump and the Republican Criminal Organization are more slanted then Knots berry Farm. They all belong in jail, not running a government they hate, on behalf of plutocrats who own them, for people for whom they have only barely veiled contempt. contempt
46
Trump is breaking the law wherever he can. It takes someone like Krugman to point out the issues with tariffs and how the economy, while robust in certain ways, is not robust because of Trump, but in spite of Trump. I'm sure if you look at all federal departments, corruption, illegality, and betrayal will be found everywhere. Corruption may not have immediate effects, but it is corrosive, damaging the foundations of the society in ways which leave us much poorer.
16
I can't think of a single department/division of this administration that isn't trying to intentionally abuse its authority and/or run afoul of the Administrative Procedures Act - citizenship question by the Commerce Dept.; biased investigations of FBI employees (e.g. James Comey) by the Justice Dept.; “zero-tolerance” policy by DHS and the resulting family separations in violation of the Flores Agreement; tariff exclusion process by the United States Trade Representatives Office benefiting some companies over others; JEDI contract by Pentagon to Microsoft over Amazon; mishandling of student loan forgiveness by the Education Dept., OMB's unlawful hold over military aid...the list seems endless.
And yet, we can't find 4 Republican senators willing to at least subpoena witnesses and documents for Trump's impeachment trial.
70
@Rohan
The Weather Service. Honesty started there at the bottom (in Birmingham) and was promptly adopted by the top (the head of the Weather Service publicly praised the Birmingham office after the head of NOAA waffled).
8
@Rohan Those Republican senators and house members will be scrabbling to keep their seats since Trump announced he is willing to cut Social Security and Medicare.
That can't be good for GOP re-elections in 2020.
12
There is a conflict of interest for Trump regarding the tariff on French wine. He or his family own a vineyard in Virginia which could benefit from the tariffs. Coincidentally this is the same vineyard that applies for visas for foreign workers each year
85
@David
And Virginia wines are not good. They can slip in all the protections they want, and they'll have to because they can't compete honestly with French wines.
8
So many impeachable offenses, so little time. I would add to them the fact that he doesn’t appoint cabinet members etc. Doesn’t he HAVE to preform the duties of the presidency, and isn’t that one?
21
Trump once again shows his talent for bribery "his repeated threats to impose prohibitive tariffs on imports of automobiles from Europe."
How many other countries has he bribed and threatened that we don't know about yet?
11
@Jacquie
MBS (the one who sends people videos with nasty spyware) either has bribed Trump (by permanently booking a whole floor at his Washington DC hotel) or he has gotten one of these video apps installed on the unsecured cell phone that Trump is insisting on using (because he is afraid of the deep (US) state). There is no way a head of state could get away with killing a US journalist without either having the goods on Trump or having bribed him.
8
@Jacquie
The correct term is "extortion". Bribery means paying someone personally to do something. Extortion means threatening someone into doing something. In your defense, Trump certainly doesn't care which crime he commits. Laws mean nothing to him.
15
@Thomas Zaslavsky How do we know he doesn't do both with other foreign countries?
1
I am not a Trump fan...I repeat, I am not Trump fan! But it is clear from this article and others that if Trump went to the restroom more than once a day he would be accused of abusing his power by wasting water. I repeat...I am not a Trump fan. But I have never seen a single human so demonized by the press in my lifetime, all because he won an election that liberals thought they had in the bag. He has used the Executive Order far less than Obama, he has acted no different than any other president in trying to bring about his agenda, and he is just as vain, ego-driven, and divisive as all others in the past 40 years.
3
@Chris
Is something wrong with your sense of the law? Clearly, something is missing in your knowledge of Trump's pre-presidential record of corruption.
14
@Chris
Trump has acted far differently than any other President. Sorry but after the Bush 2 debacle the press has to call out the truth. They were raked over the coals for letting Bush lie us into a war, killing thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of middle easterners. It's not demonizing, it's holding crooked people accountable. It has to be done, and people have to expect and demand better from their leaders.
13
@Chris
I believe your claim about Trum's number of executive orders compared to Obama's is incorrect. Comparing the numbers in their first 3 years of office Trump has issued 137 executive orders. In the same period Obama issued 108. That's 26% more than Obama. Source:www.federal.register.gov
Like Trump or hate him, it's hard to justify that he has acted no different than any other president. Beyond the executive order count, look at the count of the number of lies per day.
13
Trump's entire presidency has been one big abuse of power, abuse of our allies and abuse of our country and our congress followed by coverup after coverup to keep the country in the dark. He then lies to the country about what he is doing and the results. We have to wait for investigative reporting and non-partisan agencies for the facts and data and sometimes even that is hard to come by because so much he does is cloaked in secrecy. This is the most corrupt president and administration I have ever witnessed in my life time. Worse than Nixon by a mile. How many laws does Trump have to break before the senate wakes up?
47
Don't forget Trump's lapdog at Treasury, Steve Munchkin, who also seems indifferent to laws or national interest.
68
@Bassman
Right on. I feel exactly the same way.
1
"It’s a principle nobody who believes in American ideals should accept." Republicans no longer believe in American ideals.
22
@Michael: "Republicans no longer believe in American ideals."
What are "American ideals" and which Democratic presidential candidate best exemplifies them?
It is always good to read the truth about an issue of which I know little; the in's and out's of tariffs. Now, at least, I understand that President Trump as acting illegally. I can hope we elect a Congress that will stop him in his second term; a Senate that will actually try him for his illegality. All I do understand clearly is that Donald Trump is taxing me with his tariffs, and I don't like it. I was better off and had greater purchasing power before he started this tariff game. I don't know whose world he is trying to improve, but it isn't mine.
19
Exactly what is the American competition for a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, or Porsche or Jaguar or Lexus.
The only American car you see in Europe is the Jeep - with European made high efficiency diesel engines. Everything in the small saloon car market is done much better in Europe by Europeans.
To be honest - I say slap a 200% import tax on high end imported cars and let the people who buy them and just got a huge Trump tax break pay back some of those tax refunds.
12
@mrc
BMW and Mercedes are now made here in the US. Nissan has a factory in Mississippi right near the freeway going thru the state and not far from Jackson.
Ford had factories in England and Germany long ago. The Cortina used a Cosworth flow thru head that made a family sedans hot little car. I still see a few of them around here.
Ford once owned Jaguar but sold it. I wouldn't have had a Ford-Jaguar anyway but I see Tata Jags all the time and they're good looking car. The old mid-80s Jag sedan I had was so fun to drive when it rained... although in Santa Barbara that didn't happen very often.
Companies are multi-national now. Owned by people buying stock on a public market.
Trump's actions are either a shake-down or a Russian plot but most likely both. Trump never misses a chance to grab dough.
The disconnect between what people think and what's real is what got me to go into biology instead of law. Science uses facts and tests theories while Rupert Murdoch sells biases. He's rich and I'm not, but I've got my health.
3
@mrc
The EU has proven that they will retaliate against US tariffs on other products. Say Harley Davidson motorcycles (forcing Harley to begin making them in Europe), or bourbon, etc. They will match our tariffs dollar for dollar not product for product. So far both China and EU have been a lot smarter in targeting their retaliations than we were in picking our targets. China in particular have been way ahead of Trump. They are setting him up for an offer he can't refuse in July/August. They will tell him to sign on the dotted line or have a full size 200% tariff trade war that will crash the stock market and the economy just in time for the election.
2
@mrc That is a pretty good observation. Since VW is a Germany maker, but my Jetta comes from Mexico/Brazil would it apply to me. Trust me, mine is not a high end vehicle.
The”Trump Is Abusing His Tariff Power, Too
More contempt for the rule of law.“
Contempt for the rule of law is critical to Trumps playbook. Avoid removal( or worse) from office while delivering a denatured foreign policy to one V. Putin. The Russians smile whilst the plan proceeds apace. They can almost smell the collapse of NATO and/or the E.U. They’re also looking forward to helping Trump win , if he survives the trial.
14
I worked in the Department of Commerce way back when Nixon was just becoming unglued. We were treated with a new Secretary, who addressed us just once, laughably. The old hands in my group said “just an appointee, doesn’t have the foggiest notion of what we do, just keep your head low and do your work.”
In the Age of Trump, I’m sure tens of thousands of workers in the agencies hew to this advice, but a handful who value a paycheck over the truth, will crank out any phony report that’s requested by the WH. Or even attest to an imaginary one.
And yes, the crazy unpredictability of those tariffs essentially shut off any growth in my industry since they made planning impossible.
The good news is that, with the ejection or rejection of McConnell and his emoji Trump, the country can get back to participation in the current world economy and current century.
67
The Europeans must be asking themselves, with friends like these (Trump) who needs enemies?
101
Dead right. He is doing immense and long-term damage as we see it. Bullying allies, sham impeachment trial, and many more shameful actions make America (far from) great again. And he and his cronies are too full of themselves to see it. It's pitiful.
16
@Andrew
The Republican Senators are to blame for the sham impeachment trial, and we'll see if Roberts is complicit or more interested in the legacy of the Supreme Court and his role as Chief Justice.
2
My issues with Trump are too many to list and his lack of qualifications to be president or even presidential are Everest-sized. But it’s not just “good people doing nothing” that propels Trump’s evil and the Republicans disdain for the Constitution and the oaths they have sworn. Sadly, the people who are helping him the most are the media. If the DOW were to hit 50,000 the majority of people in this country would benefit minimally. Climate change is a fact of reality and all the media deniers spouting the economy's "booming" will be washed away by a tidal wave of trillions of dollars needed to deal with the desperate situations that will mount on a daily basis. So when news articles or TV commentators announce that Trump will be hard to beat in 2020 if the economy is so strong they are basically telling the public that a lie can work if everyone agrees to not validate the truth. Trump’s economic idiocy will destroy every country on the planet because disasters do not recognize borders. Trump’s supporters do not see the climate as the enemy and instead listen devotedly at Trump’s rallies as if he really has accomplished the lies he constantly repeats. The Senate’s refusal to do their job is a minor problem compared to the media’s complicit willingness to make headlines that driven by facts that can defend this country on every level from every enemy, including Trump and the GOP. Krugman's article is barely a blip on the radar of disasters ahead.
93
@Michael
If the Senate did its job, the incompetence of the media would be irrelevant, so no, it is not in any way shape or form a minor problem.
1
Once again, no surprise here. He has been a user and abuser for his whole so-called career. And yet here we are with an economy that has never been so top heavy, a government that has never been so corrupt, policies that have never been so threatening to the welfare of its citizens and to the health of the planet. Vote in record numbers in 2020.
191
Someone should sue him personally to get reimbursed for the illegal tariffs.
29
Trump’s trade war with China is even worse because it may damage friendly relations between the world’s two super powers.
6
All powers that belong to congress need to be taken back. This isn't a new feeling for me. I was against the Patriot act and the war on terror. These were just means to diminish the rights of Americans and start conflicts at will. I was for taking back war powers when Obama had them as much as when Trump has them. As for the Patriot act and all of the subsequent invasions of our civil liberties, it is time for an American revolution at the ballot box and an opening of our society. No more metal detectors, barriers, and Pat downs. These are nonsense jobs just made to turn us into sheep.
54
@Irish
I support you 100% (the maximum possible).
8
@Irish
Obama did not go into Syria because he could not get Congress, by then Republican, to agree, and then he was blamed by the same Republicans for being a wuss.
3
"And remember, the nations Trump was trying to bully are or were among our most important allies, part of the coalition of democracies we used to call the Free World."
Perhaps that is the point. What better way to tear apart any and all alliance with "the Free World" than to do it under the pretense of patriotism - to help re-balance America's trade deficit and to generate more manufacturing jobs for the US? And if Putin were to have a mole sleeping and watching Fox and Friends, will he do it any different?
Well, that is the point. Three cheers for Putin.
138
Knowing the way he functions, he probably had an issue with a Mercedes-Benz sometime around 1986, and they wouldn't give him a brand new one for free. It's that simple I'm afraid, but the ramifications are many and the consequences dangerous. Like anything he touches.
273
@Bear Trump ordered his EU ambassador to destroy the EU, he's a strong supporter of a "hard" Brexit, and he cites "national security" as an excuse to impose tariffs on Europe. He simply is attempting to weaken our allies in Europe but doesn't want to explain this publicly because he is serving Moscow's interests, not America's interests. This is similar to his attempt to undermine Ukraine. Trump almost certainly would back-off from tariff threats if Europeans manufacture sufficient political dirt to throw at the Democratic Party.
5
@Bear It's probably because the Obamas own a German or Japanese car.
1
how is it that this issue of tariffs imposed via national security has not been challenged in court. for example, toys from china have been tariifed. how is that national security?
103
Thank you for bringing this to light. The chaos that is Trump makes it challenging to keep up.
183
@Rebecca Cooper
Yes, there have been dozens, perhaps hundreds, of abuses of power by Trump and his cabinet since he was elected. The issue for me is... why aren't the Democrats pursuing every single last one of these abuses? Keep at him. Don't let Trump breathe for one minute. To not pursue these abuses is akin to complacency. And complacency gets us nowhere.
8