I am worried now. And, I’m not talking bear markets. Not yet. I’m not even talking about the Russian bear heading for the Alaskan Trump TV-fest. Of course, Europe should be worried about the Dear Orange Leader trading Ukrainian sovereign territory with his Putin pal but this summit feels more and more like a photo op with minimal progress. Another chance for the Donald to host, and hallucinate. Even the Kennedy Centre Awards for the Performing Arts have been threatened with a Trump MC slot. Bill Kristol of The Bulwark amusingly described Trump as claiming “his aides had wept, pleaded, besought him to host the awards personally” with reluctant success.
“I’ve been asked to host—I said, ‘I’m the president of the United States! Are you folks asking me to do that?’” Trump said. “‘Sir, you’ll get much higher ratings.’ I said, ‘I don’t care, I’m the president of the United States. I won’t do it.’ They said, ‘Please.’ And then Susie Wiles said, ‘Sir, I would like you to host,’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’”Grown men crying again. The former reality TV star can’t resist the cameras or weepy stories but he’s certainly showing a curious resistance in one aspect of his gyrating global trade war. China was the original bipartisan focus of US trade deficit ire. Now, not so much. China trade tariffs are now lower than those smacked onto many US allies. In fact, Trump has once more delayed the imposition of escalating 100% + tariffs on China by 90 days. Global trade watchers and geopolitical risk analysts have been left scratching their heads. Apart from China tariff leniency, other developments indicate a shifting Trump focus. Here are three moves which are causing most confusion:
- Check out US Treasury Secretary Bessent describing to an incredulous Fox TV host, Larry Kudlow, the intention of the US to “appropriate” funds from allies in Europe, UAE and Japan to be invested in their trillions at the whim of the US government. Incredible stuff.
- Pity poor Switzerland. They are, as a friendly ally nation, currently topping the global tariff league tables with draconian 39% rates, higher even than China.
- After decades of US diplomatic efforts to woo India, the White House now seems determined to provoke the Modi government with tariffs because of their purchases of Russian oil. Never mind that China is in far bigger sanction infringement territory with its oil purchases, and weapons parts supplies.