The Trump administration officials keeps talking 3 types of BS to justify their tariff policy
- Tariffs will bring ‘good’ jobs back home ---this would indicate
- Tariffs will stay in place
- will create inflation because manufacturing goods will use expensive US labor as opposed to cheap foreign labor
- Or other countries will drop subsidizes or barriers which will make domestic businesses more competitive (total BS)
- Tariffs will generate tax revenue to help offset tax cuts and pay down debt
- This means tariffs stay in place
- This assumes that we continue to import a lot of goods
- This assumes the global economy doesn’t take a digger
- That there isn’t a better way to raise revenue (like hiking taxes on the rich and a higher global corporate tax rate)
- Tariffs are all part of the deal to get better trade deals
- Trump is a notoriously bad deal maker---almost no bank would lend money to him prior to 2016
- The best way to negotiate to start with consequences and work back from there (it isn't)
- Seems to show the administration has zero understanding of other countries policies like VAT (will the world let Trump dictate their domestic tax policy—me thinks NOT)
I think many in the administration have talked themselves into believing some version of the above, but its all BS. What are these tariffs good for? Trump based grift. Each company can/should/will go and give Trump something to get relief. This isn’t about revenue or ‘better jobs’ or making the US economy more competitive (its going to make it less competitive per Monday's blog) ---it’s about Trump grift pure and simple. I also read someplace---I think the Economist that this will result in like 2.6 million new individual tariffs---with no government employees left post DOGEing who the heck is going to track and enforce this mess. But the opportunities for grift will be huge as will the attention afforded to Trump. Tariffs are a win for Trump and a loss for USA and the world.