“You’re fired”. The two words that helped propel a publicity-hunting property developer to national celebrity and eventually the White House. Yelling at quivering job applicants on a national television show is one thing, taking on the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, the world’s most important central bank, at a time when the world is […]
No sense spending time unpacking Trump’s grievances masquerading as economic analysis, or the math that resulted in the stunning tariffs he has announced. It has no basis in anything other than the administration’s desire to seem scientific. He has seen trade deficits as an unmitigated evil long before descending the Trump Tower escalator. Never mind […]
The Art of the Steal. Simplicity itself. Set tariffs high enough to make it difficult for any producer outside the tariff wall to sell into the protected, lush American market. Invite the world’s new factories, jobs and businesses to set up inside the wall by offering a low corporate tax rate of 15 per cent […]
Take everything he says with a pinch of salt and, if it becomes too much, have a calming wee dram. Trump Derangement Syndrome, or TDS, is dangerous. It attacks judgement, and replaces it with the disease of prejudices, some strains favouring, others opposing America’s President, Donald J. Trump. Fevers run high. There is no cure. […]
By Irwin Stelzer Keir Starmer did almost everything right. He headed for lunch with the President, leaving the British Embassy’s Jaguars and Land Rovers in the garage. Instead, he relied on a made-in-America (probably) Chevy Suburban, presumably part of the Secret Service’s fleet of bullet-proof gas guzzlers. That might take Trump’s mind off the fact […]
If you are still reeling from the shock and awe created by Donald Trump’s foreign policy since taking office, ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet,’ as Ronald Reagan once put it. Trump doesn’t just want to reset trading relations with every country in the world. He wants the world to change its foreign policies to suit […]
President Trump threatened Mexico and Canada with 25 per cent tariffs unless they devoted more resources to controlling the flood of fentanyl crossing their borders into the US. That triggered a massive share sell-off and a precipitous collapse in stock prices. Both countries agreed to shore up their border controls. Trump called off the tariffs. […]
President Trump is not a man to be trifled with. He has declared a trade war on America’s two important trading partners, signatories to the trade agreement he negotiated to replace Nafta. It seems that when they responded to his threats by doing more to close their borders, they did not satisfy him enough, unless […]
Donald Trump inherits an economy that is somewhere between healthy and booming, although nevertheless with some looming problems. It is growing at what seems to be a three per cent annual rate, available jobs equal the number of unemployed, unemployment is low, real wages are rising, CEOs are optimistic that replacing the Biden team with […]
Donald Trump has long planned to impose a 10 per cent tariff on all imports, and a 60 per cent levy on imports from China to protect American producers and workers. Now, he has grander plans for their use. A Weapon In The War On Drugs Exports to the US account for 31 per cent […]