Dear Commons Community,
US business leaders are offering their reactions to the steep trade tariffs that the Trump administration has imposed on Canada, Mexico and China. The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal called it “the dumbest trade war in history”.
Trump hit Canada and Mexico with a 25% tariff on imports, and China with 10%, on Saturday in a move that launched a new era of trade wars between the US and three of its largest trading partners. The tariffs against Canada also include tax oil and energy products at 10%.
Trump said on his own Truth Social social media platform that he had used emergency powers to issue the tariffs, due to come into effect today, “because of the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our Citizens, including fentanyl”.
The Journal said the moves “reminds us of the old Bernard Lewis joke that it’s risky to be America’s enemy but it can be fatal to be its friend”, adding that with the exception of China “Mr Trump’s justification for this economic assault on the neighbors makes no sense.”
It added: “Drugs may be an excuse since Mr Trump has made clear he likes tariffs for their own sake, pointing to Trump’s comments on Thursday that the US doesn’t need oil or lumber from its neighbors.
“Mr Trump sometimes sounds as if the US shouldn’t import anything at all, that America can be a perfectly closed economy making everything at home,” the editorial continued. “This is called autarky, and it isn’t the world we live in, or one that we should want to live in, as Mr Trump may soon find out.”
Larry Summers, treasury secretary under Bill Clinton, called the impending tariffs “a self-inflicted supply shock.
“It means less supply because we’re taxing foreign suppliers. And that will mean higher prices and lower quantities,” Summers told CNN. “This is a self-inflicted wound to the American economy. I’d expect inflation over the next three or four months to be higher as a consequence, because the price level has to go up when you put a levy on goods that people are buying.”
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the US, told ABC’s This Week that Trump’s tariff move “is disrupting to an incredibly successful trading relationship.
“We’re really disappointed and we’re hopeful that they don’t come into effect on Tuesday,” Hillman added. “We’re ready to continue to talk to the Trump administration about that.”
Last night Trump backed off on his tariffs and put a pause on them.
Tony
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