By Jeffrey Blehar
Saturday, February 01, 2025
A brief note, because not only am I not an economist, I
am deeply confused about tariffs. Not what they are, mind you — they’re a tax
on the price of consumer goods, regardless of what Trump labels them; rather, I
am no longer certain anymore when and where we are deploying them. Trump
threatened Colombia with 25 percent tariffs for approximately half an hour
earlier this week, and then those disappeared into the ether once they fell
into line.
So when Donald Trump claims that America’s brave and bold new tariff regime — a 10 percent tax on all
goods from China and a whopping 25 percent tariff placed upon exports from
Mexico and our primary geopolitical foe Canada — is going into effect today, I
don’t know what that means or whether it even means today. Trump has offered no
specifics on how the duties are going to be collected and only the barest
explanation of why they are being imposed either. We are
apparently due more details this weekend, but I will only repeat what I wrote
on January 20, the day Trump took office: If he actually succeeds in getting
his way on tariffs — a lifelong obsession of his — he seems more likely to
destroy his own presidency (along with the economy) than any of our rivals.
(That said, there is nothing wrong with quietly rooting
for the ruination of Canada.)
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