There is a lot of confusion when it comes to Trumps Tariffs. During the campaign he said he was going to tariff everyone with China getting the highest tariffs for two purposes.
Raising revenue to perhaps eliminate the income tax or at least support more tax cuts.
Forcing manufacturers to move to US.
Neither goal was very realistic but thats not important to Trump. The only certainty was retaliatory tariffs hurting exports and discouraging any return of manufacturing (US only accounts for 15% of the global market that most large manufacturers serve), and higher prices as its the US that pays tariffs on imports.
As President, Trump now says he is going to tariff Canada and Mexico 25% with an additional 10% on China. However, he seems willing to negotiate . For what its a bit unclear.
First off under the NAFTA 2.0 that Trump himself negotiated giving Canada and Mexico even lower tariffs, the only legitimate reason to break the deal is one of national security.
Trumps National Security concern that he cites is Fentanyl which he alleges is coming in from illegal immigrants crossing the border. However, at the same time Trump says he has closed the border and its secure already , and has committed up to 2000 US troops. Of course, everyone except his supporters know over 90% of Fentanyl comes into the country by Americans in vehicles at legal border crossings. And drug deals are transacted using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin which he promotes. The other issue is very little Fentanyl comes from Canada and indeed more Fentanyl flows from US into Canada.
Despite this reality a promise by Mexico to send 10,000 Mexican troops to the border is enough to placate Trump and delay his revenue generating and job creating tariffs for a month. Mexico also deployed 10,000 troops in 2021 under the Biden administration. It also detained more than 1 million migrants last year. Something does not compute.
At the same time he is negotiating with Canada, seemingly willing to give up revenue generating and job creating tariffs for something, something. At one moment besides Fentanyl flows being stopped he wants them to become our 51st state, or to balance their trade with us, and now a new one, he wants our banks to be able to operate in Canada and offer mortgages. As if his supporters are willing to suffer higher prices for Wall Street profits.
Update: Now Canada is sending 10,000 troops to border and gets a 30 day waiver
Like I said its all very confusing.
And as for tariffs on the rest of the world that account for half of our imports nothing much is said except that they will be coming. One deal at a time I guess.
Its almost like he knows tariffs wont generate anywhere near the revenue needed to eliminate the income tax but will significantly cause higher inflation and higher interest rates as we have said from day 1 (before the election) , and he is looking to walk them back under the pretense of some great deal that nobody but him and his billionaire friends care about, or at least roll them out slowly enough to slow boil the inflation.
In the meantime I guess we shall have to wait and see if he hits Mexico and Canada with tariffs next month.
Of course, maybe he is serious and just wants to buy time until Patel, Gabbard and RFK Jr are confirmed. Losing popular support might embolden some Republicans to vote against his picks.
In the meantime I suppose this gives people more time to stockpile whatever they might buy from Canada and Mexico to make a killing for when tariffs are in place.
End
You clearly don’t understand tariffs, the history of the use of tariffs in the USA, nor how Trump thinks and operates.