Transcript: Unwell Trump Rages at China, GOP as Allies Turn on Tariffs
Sargent: Yeah. And I think when Republicans start getting a real earful from their constituents, even much worse than it is now, you’re going to see a whole other level of panic from Republican lawmakers. I want to try to get into one of the arguments Trump is making here. He had a series of tweets where he claimed that due to his tariffs, numerous countries around the world now want to make deals with the U.S., including Japan. This is supposed to mean that they’re going to now stop treating us unfairly thanks to his toughness. That whole line about them treating us unfairly is ridiculous. But putting that aside, let’s say for the sake of argument that other countries are knocking down our doors to make deals—would it even be that much to boast about? Given everything that’s going on, aren’t we still in a horrible spot right now and sliding into worse places? How much can we gain from these deals? What do you make of that big argument he’s making?
Edwards: For the most part, I have found that these tariffs really lack an articulation of a goal. What are we moving toward? What are we trying to accomplish? When do we know that we’ll get there? And this idea of, Oh, they’re going to come kiss the ring and we’ll have a better deal, , Well, what does a better deal look like? What is that? It’s funny; it’s incumbent upon the administration to explain that, and they really haven’t. What I’ve noticed is that the broad motivation for tariffs is that it’ll bring jobs back. But then, of course, as tariffs are coming out and are hitting the economy so hard and making people so worried, it’s all about negotiation. Those two things are really in contrast and in conflict with each other. You can’t have an economic policy that is meant to long-term bring jobs back to the U.S. by reducing the amount we trade if it’s all just leverage to get a better deal in the short term.
I was on a WNYC show that was a call in, and one of the people who called into the show about tariffs is starting his first board game company. He has investment money and he’s contracted with a board game manufacturer in China to make the game. But of course, now that tariffs are announced, he has no idea what his production costs will be or if he’ll able to afford to launch his company, his new game. I think that this is a great case study of what a tariff is supposed to do.