By Byron York | Washington Examiner
As a week of intense tariff mania ends and a new period of negotiations begins, President Donald Trump has 1) started a trade war with China, imposing a 125% tariff on all imports from that country; 2) imposed a 10% global baseline tariff on the world; 3) imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum, some autos, and auto parts; and 4) paused for 90 days a long list of higher “reciprocal” tariffs on many countries.
And here’s the kicker: After all that, the world, in the words of many analysts, is “breathing a sigh of relief.” Trump has imposed a tariff regime that would have horrified much of the political and financial establishment just a few months ago, and now, they are happy that he did not do more.
Both Trump’s detractors and his supporters are trying to figure out how he did it. “I’m not sure this was gamed out,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who is not a big fan. “Whether or not this was in the playbook or a reaction, I don’t know.”
Of course, Trump opponents will say he bungled every step of the way and nearly blew up the world economy in the process. On the other side, some of Trump’s most loyal supporters, as well as the people who work for him, will say the president carefully planned every move in a classic example of four-dimensional chess.