Trump went on Maria Bartiromo’s show today and explained why he was not just targeting China with tariffs, but even our friends and allies, and yeah it didn’t make much sense.
Watch below:
Trump doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence on trade because he is basing his entire worldview on a faulty understanding of trade deficits. Many many many people have tried, and failed, to explain that trade deficits aren’t like a bank balance deficit – it’s just not a big deal if we buy more products from a country than they buy from us. In a free trade economy, we simply buy what is in our best interests, and trade deficits are meaningless.
There is ONE bright side in this interview on trade – when it comes down to it it sounds like Trump is doing all of this for the sake of getting rid of all tariffs. And that I can get behind – if he thinks the ideal state is a world with as few tariffs as possible on all sides, then that’s a reasonable goal. The question is how much damage ha can do on the way there. So far, it’s looking OK.