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.

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Trump okays sanctions on $200 billion in Chinese goods

President Trump has given the go ahead to proceed with tariffs against $200 billion in Chinese goods, sources told Fox News on Friday. The sanctions will include the elusive Chinese finger traps, firecrackers and hand fans.

Regarding when this will begin is not clear as yet, but the move will mark the latest in a growing trade war with Beijing and a possible quieter July 4th next year. The president is seeking to combat what he perceives as unfair trade practices from China.

The Wall Street Journal on Saturday reported the tariff level will probably be set at around 10 percent, which is below the original 25 percent Trump initially suggested.

"The President has been clear that he and his administration will continue to take action to address China's unfair trade practices," the White House said in a statement on Friday. "We encourage China to address the long-standing concerns raised by the United States."

Both China and the U.S. imposed 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of each other's goods, bringing the price of cheap furniture, scissors, moo shoo pork and Samsung phones up significantly. This week, the U.S. invited China to hold talks on the tariff situation.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told the Associated Press that "We have indeed received an invitation from the U.S. side. We welcome it. Now the two sides are in communication on relevant details."

The two sides met in August but reported no progress. The WSJ reported that the Chinese hoped that any final decision on tariffs would be delayed until after the next round of talks.

China has also threatened to retaliate against $60 billion of American products if Trump goes ahead with his tariffs, but that's to be expected because that's always the case when one country puts tariffs on another.

Trump shouldn't be surprised.

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