By AFP
April 9, 2025
THE THREE STOOGES
US President Donald Trump said he huddled with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick before announcing the 90-day pause on tariffs - Copyright AFP SAUL LOEB
Danny KEMP
It ended not with a bang, but with US President Donald Trump and two top aides writing a social media post.
Trump’s decision to pause worldwide tariffs capped an extraordinary week of global panic since he announced the levies on what he called “Liberation Day.”
After repeatedly denying that he was considering a halt, the first sign that something was up came as markets braced for another brutal session.
“BE COOL!” Trump urged Americans on his Truth Social network at 9:33 am in Washington (1333 GMT) before adding that it was a “GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!”
Few seemed to take the 78-year-old Republican seriously, and turmoil started to spread to usually safe bond markets.
But Trump later admitted that he had made the decision “early this morning” on Wednesday to pause the tariffs.
The author of the “Art of the Deal” is rarely known for his humility, but he appeared to be in a reflective mood as he answered questions about the decision.
“Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he signed a series of executive orders — including one titled “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerheads.”
Trump said he then huddled early Wednesday with Scott Bessent, his bespectacled US Treasury Secretary, and Howard Lutnick, the brash Commerce Secretary and former trader.
“It probably came together early this morning,” said Trump. “We didn’t have access to lawyers. We wrote it up from our hearts, right? It was written from the heart, and I think it was well written too.”
What emerged was a lengthy post on his Truth Social network at 1:18 pm local time (1718 GMT) saying that Trump had “authorized a 90 day PAUSE” in tariffs, except on China, which he punished with even higher levies of 125 percent.
Trump’s administration insisted it was all part of a grand strategy that had brought 75 countries to the negotiating table in his quest to reduce America’s trade deficit.
“Many of you in the media clearly missed the art of the deal,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters afterward.
Lutnick posted that he and Bessent “sat with the President while he wrote one of the most extraordinary Truth posts of his Presidency.”
– ‘Yippy’ –
The White House posted a picture of Trump at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, flanked by Lutnick and Bessent, with his mobile phone in front of him.
It also posted one of Trump’s own posts from 2014, reading: “Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully or write poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals.”
As markets made a turbocharged rebound, Trump hosted a group of racing drivers with their brightly-colored cars at the White House.
Trump said the markets had become “a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid — unlike these champions,” as he pointed to the drivers.
“Liberation Week” turned out to be a frantic one in which the White House struggled to get its message straight about whether or not it was prepared to negotiate.
Trump spent the weekend in Florida playing golf, but appeared touchy as he flew back to Washington, saying that “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something” in reference to the tariffs.
Lutnick, who has become one of Trump’s top cheerleaders, repeatedly said there would be no negotiations, as did trade advisor Peter Navarro.
But then Bessent was rolled out on Monday to deliver a softer message that, indeed, negotiations might be possible.
What followed was the remarkable spectacle of Trump’s tariff-skeptical aide Elon Musk publicly branding Navarro “dumber than a sack of bricks.”
But by Wednesday evening it was over — for 90 days at least — and the White House was keen to turn attention towards the stock markets, where the Nasdaq had its biggest single day leap since 2001, while the Dow Jones had its best day since 2020 and the S&P 500 its best since 2008.
Trump, who spent most of the week bashing allies and adversaries alike, struck a magnanimous tone about his announcement.
“It was written as something that I think was very positive for the world and for us,” he said.
‘Malignant stupidity’, ‘weak’: Economists on Trump’s tariffs
ByAFP
April 8, 2025
Wall Street: — © Digital Journal.
Ali BEKHTAOUI with AFP bureaus
A wide range of economists are voicing alarm over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs blitz, which has sparked a trade war that experts say could lead to a global recession.
Here are comments from some leading economists:
– ‘Spectacle of failed policies’ –
Li Daokui, one of China’s most influential economists, told AFP that Trump’s tariffs mainly aim to “squeeze other countries” for concessions.
“It is hard to imagine that there is any other economic policy that can make people around the world, including people in the United States itself, suffer losses at the same time.
“This is simply a ‘spectacle’ of failed economic policies,” Li said.
“Both the US government and the US economy will suffer huge losses,” said Li, an economics professor at Tsinghua University and former member of China’s main political advisory body.
He said the Chinese government has fully prepared for tariffs — Beijing has readied countermeasures and stepped up efforts to stimulate domestic consumption.
While Trump’s trade policy signifies the end of US leadership in globalisation, it gives Beijing opportunities to negotiate free trade agreements with other countries and play a key role in any effort to establish a new system that would replace the World Trade Organization, Li said.
“China has the economic foundation to lead globalisation.”
– ‘Failure of Reaganism’ –
For Thomas Piketty, French author of the best-selling “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, “Trumpism is first of all a reaction to the failure of Reaganism” — the liberalisation of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
“Republicans realise that economic liberalism and globalisation have not benefitted the middle class as they said they would,” the left-leaning economist told AFP.
“So now they’re using the rest of the world as a scapegoat,” he said.
“But it’s not going to work. The Trump cocktail is simply going to generate more inflation and more inequalities.”
In response, “Europe needs to define its own priorities and prepare for the global recession that’s coming” with a massive investment plan in “energy and transport infrastructure, education, research and health”.
– ‘Malignant stupidity’ –
Paul Krugman, the Nobel economics prize laureate, said the United States was essentially the founder of the modern trade system that had led to lower tariffs over the past decades.
“Donald Trump burned it all down,” Krugman wrote on his popular Substack blog before the president’s baseline 10-percent tariffs on imports took effect on Saturday.
“Trump isn’t really trying to accomplish economic goals. This should all be seen as a dominance display, intended to shock and awe people and make them grovel,” he said.
Krugman accused the US administration of “malignant stupidity” at a time when “the fate of the world economy is on the line”.
“How can anyone, whether they’re businesspeople or foreign governments, trust anything coming out of an administration that behaves like this?”
– ‘Major problem’ for the poor –
For Nasser Saidi, a former economy minister of Lebanon, “a major problem is the impact on the least-developed and emerging countries” from Trump’s “seismic shock to the global trade landscape”.
“Countries like Egypt, Lebanon or Jordan are going to face disruptions in terms of their trade relations” as well as the prospect of cuts to foreign investments.
“When you have tariffs of this type being set up — high levels of tariffs with no economic basis — what you’re going to do is severely disrupt supply chains,” he added.
“I think we’re finished with the era of globalisation and liberalisation”, which will lead countries in the Middle East, for example, to reinforce ties with Asian partners.
– ‘Big boys will suffer’ –
Kako Nubukpo, an economist and former government minister in Togo, warned that Trump’s tariffs would hit African nations already suffering from political difficulties.
“Those left behind by globalisation appear more and more numerous. And so we’ve seen an increase in illiberal regimes, whether that’s in Europe, Africa or America,” he said.
“(But) protectionism is a weapon of the weak and I think Trump has realised that in the competition with China, the United States is now the weaker one.”
In response, “African countries should promote their own national and regional value chains” as buffers against Trump’s tariffs.
Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Financial Derivatives Co. in Nigeria, said “big powers” would suffer most from a global recession.
“The small powers, we don’t have that much to suffer because we were already bleeding before, so we just stay where we are,” he said.
“Africa will suffer but not as much as the big boys.”
Op-Ed: The Art of the Squeal — Flailing away at China with tariff threats won’t work at all
By Paul Wallis
April 8, 2025
ByAFP
April 8, 2025
Wall Street: — © Digital Journal.
Ali BEKHTAOUI with AFP bureaus
A wide range of economists are voicing alarm over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs blitz, which has sparked a trade war that experts say could lead to a global recession.
Here are comments from some leading economists:
– ‘Spectacle of failed policies’ –
Li Daokui, one of China’s most influential economists, told AFP that Trump’s tariffs mainly aim to “squeeze other countries” for concessions.
“It is hard to imagine that there is any other economic policy that can make people around the world, including people in the United States itself, suffer losses at the same time.
“This is simply a ‘spectacle’ of failed economic policies,” Li said.
“Both the US government and the US economy will suffer huge losses,” said Li, an economics professor at Tsinghua University and former member of China’s main political advisory body.
He said the Chinese government has fully prepared for tariffs — Beijing has readied countermeasures and stepped up efforts to stimulate domestic consumption.
While Trump’s trade policy signifies the end of US leadership in globalisation, it gives Beijing opportunities to negotiate free trade agreements with other countries and play a key role in any effort to establish a new system that would replace the World Trade Organization, Li said.
“China has the economic foundation to lead globalisation.”
– ‘Failure of Reaganism’ –
For Thomas Piketty, French author of the best-selling “Capital in the Twenty-First Century”, “Trumpism is first of all a reaction to the failure of Reaganism” — the liberalisation of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
“Republicans realise that economic liberalism and globalisation have not benefitted the middle class as they said they would,” the left-leaning economist told AFP.
“So now they’re using the rest of the world as a scapegoat,” he said.
“But it’s not going to work. The Trump cocktail is simply going to generate more inflation and more inequalities.”
In response, “Europe needs to define its own priorities and prepare for the global recession that’s coming” with a massive investment plan in “energy and transport infrastructure, education, research and health”.
– ‘Malignant stupidity’ –
Paul Krugman, the Nobel economics prize laureate, said the United States was essentially the founder of the modern trade system that had led to lower tariffs over the past decades.
“Donald Trump burned it all down,” Krugman wrote on his popular Substack blog before the president’s baseline 10-percent tariffs on imports took effect on Saturday.
“Trump isn’t really trying to accomplish economic goals. This should all be seen as a dominance display, intended to shock and awe people and make them grovel,” he said.
Krugman accused the US administration of “malignant stupidity” at a time when “the fate of the world economy is on the line”.
“How can anyone, whether they’re businesspeople or foreign governments, trust anything coming out of an administration that behaves like this?”
– ‘Major problem’ for the poor –
For Nasser Saidi, a former economy minister of Lebanon, “a major problem is the impact on the least-developed and emerging countries” from Trump’s “seismic shock to the global trade landscape”.
“Countries like Egypt, Lebanon or Jordan are going to face disruptions in terms of their trade relations” as well as the prospect of cuts to foreign investments.
“When you have tariffs of this type being set up — high levels of tariffs with no economic basis — what you’re going to do is severely disrupt supply chains,” he added.
“I think we’re finished with the era of globalisation and liberalisation”, which will lead countries in the Middle East, for example, to reinforce ties with Asian partners.
– ‘Big boys will suffer’ –
Kako Nubukpo, an economist and former government minister in Togo, warned that Trump’s tariffs would hit African nations already suffering from political difficulties.
“Those left behind by globalisation appear more and more numerous. And so we’ve seen an increase in illiberal regimes, whether that’s in Europe, Africa or America,” he said.
“(But) protectionism is a weapon of the weak and I think Trump has realised that in the competition with China, the United States is now the weaker one.”
In response, “African countries should promote their own national and regional value chains” as buffers against Trump’s tariffs.
Bismarck Rewane, CEO of Financial Derivatives Co. in Nigeria, said “big powers” would suffer most from a global recession.
“The small powers, we don’t have that much to suffer because we were already bleeding before, so we just stay where we are,” he said.
“Africa will suffer but not as much as the big boys.”
Op-Ed: The Art of the Squeal — Flailing away at China with tariff threats won’t work at all
By Paul Wallis
April 8, 2025
DIGITAL JOURNAL
China imported $29 billion of US farm produce in 2023 - Copyright AFP/File STR
Trump’s threats to raise 104% tariffs against China look much more like desperation than any sort of serious attempt to trade. They also suggest a total lack of ideas and a complete misunderstanding of the situation’s realities.
All you’ve got are tariffs? Game over.
The overall picture is that Trump is threatening, and China isn’t budging. Strategically, it’s more like slapstick comedy than policy, just bring your own banana skins.
There’s another unavoidable issue here. Unlike America’s cushion-like Western allies, China is a very hard target. America has very little real leverage with China on any level.
Consider this:
The world is already up in arms against the tariffs, and America has effectively isolated itself.
Trump’s rhetoric is a constant major liability when talking to other countries.
Many countries have taken great offense at US foreign policy on all levels, particularly threats of annexation and statehood.
America’s longtime friends and allies are simply finding new options for trade without the US. Japan and South Korea have already done a deal with China. Canada could do a deal for oil with China that might undercut Russian oil.
As public relations, the tariffs and ignorant comments have been a total failure, and America’s image couldn’t be worse.
Nobody’s mentioning the possible effect of no Chinese imports to America. That’s odd because it’s such an obvious own goal for America. Domestically, it’d be a Daisy Cutter bomb in the market when people are struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck.
Nobody believes America can deliver at all on so many major policy initiatives.
That last sentence is new. Non-delivery isn’t exactly an American tradition. Inability to deliver is a first. The administration seems to have a shopping list of things it can’t do and has made them policies.
Compare China’s position:
China already does business with the whole world. That’s not going to change.
China is taking full advantage of the clumsy “bullying” with tariffs. This Xinhua link spells out exactly what’s happening, quite politely.
China doesn’t even need to use diplomacy to make its points. All China needs to do is good business, and it’s game over for tariffs.
The tariffs and general tantrum-based policies have simply united the world in their hatred of an unbelievably stupid, ignorant, dictatorial, and arguably insane infantile America. China doesn’t need to say a word or do a thing to win.
The descent of America from the fabulous boom times to a broke gangland to Trump can only go so far. There’s not much further to fall.
This absurd, idiotic confrontation with China could be fatal to a seriously weakened America.
_________________________________________________
China imported $29 billion of US farm produce in 2023 - Copyright AFP/File STR
Trump’s threats to raise 104% tariffs against China look much more like desperation than any sort of serious attempt to trade. They also suggest a total lack of ideas and a complete misunderstanding of the situation’s realities.
All you’ve got are tariffs? Game over.
The overall picture is that Trump is threatening, and China isn’t budging. Strategically, it’s more like slapstick comedy than policy, just bring your own banana skins.
There’s another unavoidable issue here. Unlike America’s cushion-like Western allies, China is a very hard target. America has very little real leverage with China on any level.
Consider this:
The world is already up in arms against the tariffs, and America has effectively isolated itself.
Trump’s rhetoric is a constant major liability when talking to other countries.
Many countries have taken great offense at US foreign policy on all levels, particularly threats of annexation and statehood.
America’s longtime friends and allies are simply finding new options for trade without the US. Japan and South Korea have already done a deal with China. Canada could do a deal for oil with China that might undercut Russian oil.
As public relations, the tariffs and ignorant comments have been a total failure, and America’s image couldn’t be worse.
Nobody’s mentioning the possible effect of no Chinese imports to America. That’s odd because it’s such an obvious own goal for America. Domestically, it’d be a Daisy Cutter bomb in the market when people are struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck.
Nobody believes America can deliver at all on so many major policy initiatives.
That last sentence is new. Non-delivery isn’t exactly an American tradition. Inability to deliver is a first. The administration seems to have a shopping list of things it can’t do and has made them policies.
Compare China’s position:
China already does business with the whole world. That’s not going to change.
China is taking full advantage of the clumsy “bullying” with tariffs. This Xinhua link spells out exactly what’s happening, quite politely.
China doesn’t even need to use diplomacy to make its points. All China needs to do is good business, and it’s game over for tariffs.
The tariffs and general tantrum-based policies have simply united the world in their hatred of an unbelievably stupid, ignorant, dictatorial, and arguably insane infantile America. China doesn’t need to say a word or do a thing to win.
The descent of America from the fabulous boom times to a broke gangland to Trump can only go so far. There’s not much further to fall.
This absurd, idiotic confrontation with China could be fatal to a seriously weakened America.
_________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
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