Liberation for Whom?

I’ve got to post some thoughts that have nothing to do with books or writing, but I’ve just have to get them off my chest. I’ll return to books and writing in a day of two.

Yesterday was Liberation Day in the States, according to Trump. My question is: Who was liberated? Abraham Lincoln took care of that problem over one hundred and fifty years ago. Any other Americans were not and certainly won’t be liberated by what happened yesterday. Nobody in the rest of the world was or will be liberated. Maybe it’s just the Big Man himself who was liberated from his hankering to try tariffs as the way to MAGA and to make America rich again.

I’ll come back to MAGA again later, but the rich part also appears doubtful. He seem to think that tariffs are paid by the importer to the government and that’s the end of it. But the importer (either a US company or an individual) has to take the payment from his/her/their own funds. Tariffs are, essentially, a tax on the importer. Yes, they make the government richer, but they also make the importing individual or company equally poorer.

When you consider the effects of tariffs, they definitely make the whole country poorer. First of all, they drive up prices for two reasons: they drive up the prices of imported goods and services, and no they longer provide a barrier against the lower prices of previously imported goods; as a result, domestic suppliers have an invitation to raise their prices. Inflation ramps up. Secondly, importing companies go out of business, because they can’t sell at the higher prices. (Think of foreign car dealerships.) Also, US companies that used to export are hit by the reciprocal tariffs find that they can’t sell either and close up shop. With companies closing, unemployment goes up, and our Gross National Product (a measure of our national wealth) goes down.

There are probably many imported items we can do without: Mercedes cars, French champagne, Japanese wagyu beef, and Chinese childrens’ toys. But what if we can’t sell our whiskey, Mustangs, soybeans, financial services, oil and gas, Levis and Harley Davidsons?

So how is this mess going to end? There are several. I don’t know which it will be.

Trump might back off and ‘cut some deals’. Yes, this is a possibility, but it’s unlikely to happen any time soon. There are over sixty countries who’ve been hit with tariffs. Each one is angry. Each one has a particular US vulnerability they want to hit – maybe it’s a particular rare metal that they have a kind of monopoly of. Negotiations are going to be messy and time consuming, and each one of those 60+ negotiations has the be handled by the Big Man, not by the Department of Commerce.

Congress could take control. With Congress controlled by the Republicans, that won’t be a near term event. Yes, Congress is angry that Trump broke his inauguration vow to follow the Constitution, which gives the right to set tariffs to Congress and not the President. But it’s going to take plenty of renegade Republicans to break ranks. Don’t hold your breath.

The US Supreme Court could hear a constitutional case and rule against the President. Maybe, but the Court is stacked in the President’s favor, and the court doesn’t often set speed records.

The World Trade Organisation (or anybody else) says Trump is wrong. Are you kidding?

I said I’d get back to MAGA, and I have some questions about Great Countries: Does a Great Country

shut down its entire foreign aid program, leaving millions of sick, hungry, poor, and terrified people on their own?seek to do financial deals with countries which attack their neighbours and deprive their own people of human rights?disregard and belittle international rules of behaviour which have been codified and adhered to by the large majority of nations?

No, I don’t think so.