President Donald Trump’s latest catapult in the tariff wars was low comedy indeed. “I am a Tariff Man,” he has said. Of the latest 25 per cent tariffs he placed on at $270 billion worth of Chinese exports to the U.S., he says the cash is swelling the U.S. bank account.I have no doubt he believes there is one account, just down from Trump Tower, and that foreigners pay tariffs into it. In real life, these huge fees will be paid by importers and ultimately American consumers, but the idea that they’re federal profits is Trump’s “theology,” his aides have admitted. He cannot be persuaded otherwise. We all have pet theories. Trump also believes that, like a battery, there is a finite amount of energy in every human and exertion will deplete it, which explains his perpetual golf carting. I believe that when you’re ill, white foods are best, which means mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, vanilla ice cream and barley.Both pet theories are ludicrous and I imagine both Trump and I will meet an early death. But his tariff notions are actually dangerous. They will bash the U.S. economy and if they balloon and persist, the global economy too. The tariffs on Chinese goods won’t work on goods where China has cannily made itself almost the only supplier, and at prices pared to the bone. Bloomberg mentions electronic components, furniture, appliances and networking gear as the products under tariff that the U.S. most needs from China. Importers will have to seek out other trading nations but new supply chains are very difficult and expensive to build, especially with low-wage nations like Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Ah, the U.S. has history with them. Weirdly, given that Trump has started pointless trade wars on so many fronts, including Canada and South Korea, new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo just finished an astonishing world tour of insulting and threatening allies in the crudest terms. Was that smart? There’s a lar ...
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