In TrumpWorld, tariffs cure everything but bad breath, and they’re working on that one. From Tom Mullen at lewrockwell.com:
They can’t both bring in significant revenue and protect domestic production. It’s impossible.
President Trump announced Friday another pause on some tariffs on products imported from Canada and Mexico after a rocky week for equities markets trying to price in their effects. At the same, he says that tariffs could go higher than 25% in the future.
Trump’s stated reason for imposing the tariffs on the two USMCA partners is their failure to control illegal immigration and drug trafficking across their borders into the United States. Apparently, the president believes tariffs are the cure for just about anything, including illegal immigration.
But in a Q&A aboard Air Force One, Trump returned to the more traditional mercantilist arguments in favor of tariffs that he campaigned on. Asked if he is worried about a recession, Trump replied no, adding.
“All I know is this. We’re going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money, I’m telling you, you just watch. We’re going to have jobs, we’re going to have open factories, and it’s going to be great, and the plane is landing, and thank you for a lot of good questions. Thank you very much.”
There is a lot to unpack in that relatively short answer.
