Trump's self-proclaimed nickname is 'Tariff Man' and the market dives

"Tariff Man"

He called Kim Jong un "Little Rocket Man," Hillary Clinton "Crooked Hillary," Richard Blumenthal "Danang Richard," Jeb Bush "Low Energy Bush," James Comey "Lyin' James Comey," "Slimeball James Comey," Bob Corker "Liddle Bob Corker," Dick Durbin "Dicky Durbin," Al Franken "Al Frankenstien" [sic], Justin Trudeau "Justin from Canada," and Rob Rosenstein "Mr. Peepers." I could go on a lot more but I'll stop.

And now, in a tweet, President Trump referred to himself as "a Tariff Man."

Which may be the reason the stock market plummeted today, dropping over 700 points, despite his implying that he would back off of a trade war with China. Instead, he doubled down on his belief that tariffs are good things rather than a tax on people.

Trump's people has tried to spin his knee-jerk protectionism as his tactic to negotiate "better" trade deals--but those so-called better trade deals haven't materialized as yet. Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal points out that Trump's tariffs haven't affected the broader American economy thus far, but that the markets worry that could change in 2019:

The accumulating list of irritants and flash-points between the U.S. and its trading partners could spill over through other, less obvious channels such as confidence, financial markets and investment, compounding other threats such as rising U.S. interest rates and capital flight from emerging markets… Chad Bown, a trade expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, estimates that 12% of U.S. imports were covered by tariffs in September. Assuming Mr. Trump goes ahead and hits the remainder of Chinese imports, that will top 20%. 

While tariffs alone shouldn’t destroy the economy, they certainly add weight to the burden of other problems: falling oil prices, slowing real estate markets, the flattening of the yield curve thanks to “hawkish” comments from the Federal Reserve, and the sinking stock market. None of this is a recipe for economic health. We are now nearly a full decade into economic recovery. Investors are obviously wary that that recovery may slowly be turning in a negative direction. President Trump’s economically illiterate trade commentary won’t help – and is driving American allies to ramp up their own trade barriers to retaliate.

What the president doesn't seem to understand is that tariffs may help one industry, but it's always at the expense of others; often many others, and the consumer will suffer the consequences.

If it turns out that Trump was right and tariffs produce "better trade deals," I'll be happy to be wrong.

Hello fellow conservatives. At this time of year when everyone has a hand out for a hand out, I don't. I simply want you to follow Brain Flushings and check out the ads. It's free, I'm free and you're free to follow or not. I hope you do. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah.


Tweet