Friends, the reciprocal tariffs we were promised have arrived, and, in the short term, the markets don't seem to like them much. That was predictable. Trump is upending the whole international trading system, which has long been based on, and taken for granted, American gullibility and stupidity, and such a sea change will certainly inconvenience and even terrify some. The long-term impact of tariffs, and even whether many of these tariffs will endure for the long-term, is hard to predict. What wasn't hard to predict is the panic that many Democrats and leftists are currently feeling, which mirrors their sense that America is but inches from totalitarianism. My big fear is not that tariffs will wreck the economy, but that Trump haters will wreck the economy by selling all their stocks and refusing to purchase any consumer goods. Their economic pessimism may be as delusional as their political predilections, but even delusions can become self-fulfilling prophecies. In any case, I wouldn't lose hope just yet. The U.S. economy, and the world economy, can boast a lot of fundamental strengths, and those fundamentals may yet carry the day. And, if they don't, any recession may be brief or shallow. There's no doubt, however, that Trump has taken a big risk by imposing these sweeping tariffs. And I say that as someone who is broadly sympathetic to the idea of reciprocal tariffs, and who believes that we ought, as a nation, to have taken these steps a long time ago. The simple fact is, though, that just because Trump is in the right does not mean that his gambit will work as intended, especially when so many powerful people are determined to make sure that it doesn't.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly1g63x7q8o
