At his event in the White House Rose Garden, surrounded by friends, conservative politicians and cabinet secretaries, Trump announced sweeping new tariffs on a wide range of countries – allies, competitors and adversaries.
Donald Trump’s politics have changed considerably over his decades in the public sphere. But one thing he has been consistent about, since the 1980s, is his belief that tariffs are an effective tool to boost the US economy. Now, he is risking his presidency to be right, writes the BBC. At his event in the Rose Garden of the White House, surrounded by friends, conservative politicians and cabinet secretaries, Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping new tariffs on a wide range of countries – allies, competitors and adversaries. In a speech, regularly accompanied by applause from the crowd, the president recalled his long-standing support for tariffs, as well as his early criticism of free trade agreements.
The president acknowledged that he will face off against “globalists” and “special interests” in the coming days, but he urged Americans to trust their instincts. “Never forget, every prediction made by our adversaries on trade for the last 30 years has been proven completely wrong,” he said.
Now, in a second term in which he is surrounded by like-minded advisers and is the dominant force in a Republican Party that controls both houses of Congress, Trump is in a position to turn his vision of a new trade policy focused on America into reality. These policies, he argued, had made the United States a wealthy nation more than a century ago and would do so again. “For years, hardworking American citizens have been forced to sit on the sidelines while other nations have grown rich and powerful, many at our expense,” he said. “With today’s action, we will finally be able to make America great again — greater than ever before.”
It’s still a big risk for this president. Economists of all stripes warn that these massive tariffs — 53 percent on China, 20 percent on the European Union and South Korea, with a base of 10 percent for all nations — will be passed on to American consumers, driving up prices and threatening a global recession.
Ken Roggoff, the former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, predicted that the chances of the US, the world’s largest economy, falling into recession had risen to 50 percent after the announcement. Trump’s move also risks escalating a trade war with other countries and alienating allies with whom America has otherwise sought to strengthen ties. The US sees Japan and South Korea as a bulwark against China’s expansionist ambitions. But the three countries recently announced they would work together to respond to America’s trade policies. If Trump is successful, however, he would fundamentally reshape a global economic order that America initially helped build from the ashes of World War II. He promises that this will rebuild American manufacturing, create new sources of revenue and make America more independent and insulated from the kind of global supply chain shocks that have wreaked havoc on the US during the pandemic.
It’s a tall order — and one that many believe is highly unrealistic. But for a president who seems fixated on cementing his legacy, whether through ending wars, renaming geographic locations, taking new territory, or dismantling federal programs and his workforce, this is the biggest and most important prize to be won.
It would be, he said, America’s “day of liberation.” What is clear, however, is that Wednesday’s announcement, if he follows through, is almost certain to mark a historic turning point. The question is whether it will be a legacy of achievement or a glimmer of fame. Trump’s speech was triumphant — one that dismissed the potentially high costs his moves would impose on the American economy and his political standing. But, he said, it was worth it — even if, by the end of his remarks, a small shadow of presidential doubt may have peaked. “It will be a day that — hopefully — you’ll look back on in years to come and say, you know, he was right.”
