I think tariffs can be a good thing, especially to convince other countries to lower their tariffs. But across the board heavy headed applications seem… lazy? Unsophisticated?
Trump Is Burning Down the House [The Atlantic] – “The Trump plan, however, manages to achieve the opposite of all of these goals, all at once. Rather than build on the CHIPS and Science Act, Trump has called to destroy it. Rather than build a trade alliance with American allies, he kicked off this whole mess by announcing 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, alongside threats to conquer and annex the latter. Rather than deepen our supply-chain resilience in Europe to build a bulwark against China, he’s slapped tariffs on European countries without consultation or guidance. Rather than increase confidence in financial markets to encourage long-term investment in U.S. manufacturing, he’s unleashed chaos. Nobody from the White House can say what the tariff regime will look like in one day, much less one week, much less one year.”