As tariff blowback increases, Trump focuses on China
Amid market gyrations and a growing chorus of critics, a disorganised White House faces a day of swings and bad behaviour
A day of dizzying geopolitical swings ended with the White House announcing that additional 50 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports would go into effect on Wednesday.
But in the morning, Trump seemed to attempt to accommodate Beijing, posting on his Truth Social account that China “wants to make a deal, badly, but they don’t know how to get it started.
“We are waiting for their call. It will happen!”
That somewhat conciliatory note itself followed a more confrontational message from Monday, when Trump warned Beijing to back down from its retaliatory threats or “all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”
The muscle-flexing came as Trump’s lieutenants tried to frame the administration’s rapid shifts about its tariffs programme as consistent and likely to produce its stated goals of boosting US manufacturing, generating “trillions of dollars in revenue” and spurring US economic prosperity.
Most economists say the programme risks fuelling inflation in the US as well as a highly destructive global trade war.