In yet another “Drew Wilson was right” moment, Trump is pushing for even more tariffs by doubling the steel and aluminum ones.
Late last month, we noted the tariffs being pushed onto Europe, Apple, and other cell phone makers. The push was part of a long standing and relentless beatdown of the US and global economy on the part of the Trump administration. This with the end goal of bankrupting America. Naturally, supporters are cheering on the destruction of America because, hey, why not? American’s don’t need the prosperity, after all.
Well, Trump’s world economic destruction tour hit a few snags along the way. This includes court challenges that have been quite the rollercoaster in and of itself. Changes to the story happened so quickly that it was very difficult for just about anyone to keep up. TechDirt was able to summarize the so-called “Liberation Day” tariffs (which caused one of the major stock market crashes) with the headline, “The Tariff Roller Coaster Continues As Courts Block, Reinstate, And Block Trump’s Illegal Tariffs“.
More recently, however, Trump, yet again, doubled down on his idiocy and threatened to double the steel and aluminum tariffs from the current 25% to 50%. The stupid president argued that it is responsible for money flowing into the US even as the money and prosperity continue their exodus out of the country (along with the talent to boot). Unsurprisingly, reaction was swift to the idiotic threats. In Canada, industry has responded by saying that it would lead to considerable disruption for the industry as a whole. From Global News:
U.S. President Donald Trump’s heightened tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into his country will “create mass disruption and negative consequences,” Canada’s steel industry warns.
Trump said on Friday that he will double the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent.
Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association (CSPA), said the steel industry in Canada and the U.S. were highly integrated and tariffs would hit steel producers on both sides.
“Steel tariffs at this level will create mass disruption and negative consequences across our highly integrated steel supply chains and customers on both sides of the border,” Cobden said in a statement Saturday.
The tariff increase will take effect Wednesday, Trump said in a Truth Social post shortly after he announced the new rate for steel imports at a rally with steelworkers in Pennsylvania.
Reaction from Europe was even more forceful. As you might recall, Trump was threatening Europe with tariffs because Trump is a dumbass. Then, after a phone call, there was a sort of temporary truce between Europe as the deadlines got pushed back to their original scheduled day. Now that the dementia president decided to push these latest threats, it seems that the counter measures Europe held off on are now, well, on. From the BBC:
The EU has said it “strongly” regrets Donald Trump’s surprise plan to double US tariffs on steel and aluminium in a move that risks throwing bilateral trade talks into chaos.
On Friday, the US president told a rally in the steel-making city of Pittsburgh that the tariffs would rise from 25% to 50%, claiming this would boost local industry and national supplies.
The European Commission told the BBC on Saturday that Trump’s latest move on tariffs “undermines ongoing efforts” to reach a deal, warning about “countermeasures”.
This also raises questions about the UK’s zero tariff deal with the US on steel and aluminium which, although agreed, has not yet been signed.
In a statement sent to the BBC on Saturday, the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said: “We strongly regret the announced increase of US tariffs on steel imports from 25% to 50%.
“This decision adds further uncertainty to the global economy and increases costs for consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
“The tariff increase also undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution.
“In good faith, the EU paused its countermeasures on 14 April to create space for continued negotiations,” the statement said, warning the bloc “is prepared to impose countermeasures”.
There’s also trouble over Trump’s China tariffs as Trump decided to act like an idiot on that front as well. From the BBC:
US President Donald Trump has accused China of violating a truce on tariffs struck earlier this month, a claim China has responded to with its own accusations of US wrongdoing.
Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower tit-for-tat tariffs after talks in Geneva.
But Trump said on Friday that China had “totally violated its agreement with us”. He did not give details but US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later said China had not been removing non-tariff barriers as agreed under the deal.
Beijing’s response on Friday did not address the US claims directly but urged the US to “cease discriminatory restrictions against China”.
The strong statements from both sides have raised concerns that trade tensions could again escalate between the world’s two largest economies despite recent negotiations.
What’s funny in all of this is that this is something I had predicted would happen. As you might recall from this article, I wrote this in my last paragraph:
The other thing to keep in mind here is that threatening others is sort of like crack for Trump. Once he takes a hit of that crack, he feels inclined to take a few more hits of proverbial crack. This can easily come in the form of additional stupid tariffs on other things along the way. So, it’s entirely possible that this won’t even be the only threats Trump makes in the next few weeks. As a result, there could very easily be more economic pain coming for American on top of what we see in the news right now. Either way, it’s easy to get the feeling that it’s all downhill from here.
As usual, these comments ended up being prophetic since we are now seeing more threats. How many more threats are we going to see? Who knows? It’ll probably continue until Trump gets distracted by something else. Last time, it took several months for that to happen and we only got a couple of weeks worth of reprieve from it. This as he declared war on free speech instead before something reminded him to continue unleashing economic destruction at home and abroad.
So, with the criminal in chief breaking as many laws and possible by pushing these illegal tariffs – and apparently vowing to find a way to move forward with the tariffs even if the courts confirm their illegality – it seems that the economic breakdown is only destined to continue. This as the possibility of the US being in a recession continues to mount.
