Hold on, every day, to the fact that this is not normal: ...

Hold on, every day, to the fact that this is not normal: Matthew Yglesias: Trump Wall Street Journal Interview: Transcript Shows Trade Ignorance: "He confuses tariffs and interest rates, and invents phantom new steel plants.... One of Trump���s earliest trade moves was to impose broad new taxes on imported steel and aluminum, which has allowed him to hand out exemptions as political favors.... It���s been bad for American companies that manufacture things made out of metal. Trump���s view, however, is that this policy has been a stunning success that���s made America���s steel industry 'vibrant'.... 'You know, they���re building plants all over the country because I put steel���because I put tariffs, 25 percent tariffs, on dumping steel'...

...In Trump���s mind, of course, ���they���re building plants all over the country,��� which is something he says constantly at rallies even though it isn���t true. Yet perhaps precisely because so much of his presidency consists of these fanciful rhetorical constructs, he doesn���t seem to understand that he has policymaking authority beyond just saying stuff. Cars are made out of metal, so taxing foreign metal in order to let American metal-makers raise prices is bad for American carmakers.... While Trump has a lot of thoughts on the subject, he doesn���t actually have a policy to offer. Asked if he has ���any comment on GM shutting its plants, laying off employees,��� Trump starts with a nice message of solidarity... [and then] Trump just filibusters:

Well, it���s one plant in Ohio. But I love Ohio. And I told them: You���re playing around with the wrong person. And Ohio wasn���t properly represented by their Democrat senator, Senator Brown, because he didn���t get the point across. But we will all together get the point across to General Motors. And they better damn well open up a new plant there very quickly. You know, they haven���t closed ��� they���re reallocating it, it���s called. And I said, because their Cruze car isn���t selling, OK? They make a car called Chevy Cruze. And it���s not selling well. So I said: Then put a car that is selling well in there but get it open fast.

We���ve gone from the president boldly reviving American industry by taxing foreign metal to the president kind of vaguely begging the CEO of a car company to keep a marginal factory open. Trump seems to realize this is weak, so upon follow-up, he recasts himself in a more confrontational light:

President Trump: I spoke with Mary Barra, the head of General Motors, last night. I said: I heard you���re closing your plant. It���s not going to be closed for long, I hope, Mary, because if it is you���ve got a problem.... So she told me: The car���s not selling. I said, so maybe you got to make a better car.

That���s Trump���s solution for Midwestern communities devastated by the loss of auto manufacturing plants. Maybe the bosses should make better cars. Maybe!...

#shouldread #oranagehairedbaboons #tariffs #globalization