Tariffs will protect American businesses that can’t hack international competition. Overall, they’ll hurt rather than help the U.S. economy. From Aladair Macleod at alasdairmacleod.substack.com:
These two topics are driven by America’s determination to focus on domestic affairs and withdraw from international trade. It is undermining the dollar’s status in favour of gold.
The politics of returning production to America and of dealing with unfair foreign competition are popular with the masses. And Trump’s opponents lack a cohesive alternative, particularly since the mess that Trump inherited was down to them. However, his policies are certain to weaken the dollar and strengthen gold, an outcome markets are already beginning to anticipate.
Geopolitics
Very sensibly, Trump realises that he must extricate America from the Ukrainian conflict. Her involvement was a policy of the US deep state under Biden and his predecessors, including Trump himself. Cutting through the propaganda, the simple fact is that Russia is winning, and the machinations of Langley hoping to destabilise Putin’s Russia have failed.
Talks have now started between the only two parties which matter: Russia and America. America wants out, and Russia wants security — security which means consolidating and keeping the ethnically Russian eastern oblasts and Crimea along with NATO’s complete withdrawal. Russia will not tolerate American or European peacekeepers on Ukrainian soil.
Blindsided by their own virulent anti-Russian propaganda, the Europeans cannot grasp the realities of the situation. Nor can they afford to rearm themselves to replace US military assets. And as an overly bureaucratic and fractured organisation, the EU will never pose a serious threat to Russia, assuming that France doesn’t start throwing its nuclear toys out of her pram.
The fact of the matter is that Europe will have to make its peace with Russia, and trade between them can then resume to their mutual benefit — the more so if America delivers her trade tariff policies against the EU. The longer it takes the EU and UK to accept this reality, the more costly it will be for them.
Meanwhile, the problems of the Middle East will continue to plague Washington which is subject to the strong influence of the Jewish lobby. Our best hope is to keep fingers crossed that it doesn’t escalate into a war against Iran.
