Ever since the campaigning before this election Trump has been saying tariffs would be a windfall for the US government (and a likely a source of money to pay for his tax cut for billionaires). The problem is that tariffs are paid by consumers in the countries imposing those tariffs – us. This is common knowledge. So, what’s he thinking?
As usual, these experts have been applying traditional economic logic to this question when they needed to be focused on Trump’s personal logic. As a narcissist of historical proportions everything must be examined in terms of what Trump can get out of this, personally. In the case of tariffs it’s leverage. He plans to squeeze every nation he can for “consideration”, some kind of payout now or favors that may be cashed in later. Like Don Corleone, this Don thinks he’s the Godfather.
In this article in the Guardian, Johnathon Freedland gives a number of examples. Trump and VP JD Vance ambushed Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in that Oval Office confrontation, insisting that he showed the President “disrespect” – a line right out of a mafia movie. Then, he cut off military aid and intelligence to Ukraine and said he was confident that Ukraine would strike a deal with the US to share mineral resources in exchange for the return of that aid.
Tariffs are an ideal tool to use in this kind of shake down operation, as they can be imposed and modified or lifted at the President’s discretion. Although, Trump has used the executive order effectively as well, extorting the cooperation of several large law firms who have gone up against him in court. He threatened to bar them from government business and bar their customers as well. The threat includes the implication that they’ll be targeted if they represent a client against Trump again, making this sound a lot like the classic deal for “protection”.