The chief economics correspondent from The Wall Street Journal has unexpectedly evaluated President Donald Trump’s trade policies, while also addressing the harsh nickname he received for backing down from imposing severe tariffs.
Greg Ip published his latest take on Trump’s tariff wars in the publication on Tuesday, sensationally noting Trump is ‘winning’ on trade policy.
‘Trump has, by his own definition of success, already won his trade war,’ Ip wrote, ‘even without [the] deals’ he vowed to reach with foreign allies.
Trump faced harsh criticism for backing down on his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, earning him the moniker ‘TACO’ for ‘Trump Always Chickens Out.’
After threatening extraordinary reciprocal tariffs on most countries, markets crashed and doomsday economists feared a recession was inevitable.
In the midst of the backlash, Trump walked back on the tariffs, instead offering countries 90 days to reach new agreements with his administration.
Some within his inner circle were boasting of the possibility of achieving 90 deals in 90 days.
That deadline has since passed, and Trump has inked one deal with the UK, and two more are on track with Vietnam and Indonesia.
After threatening extraordinary reciprocal tariffs on most countries, markets crashed and doomsday economists feared a recession was inevitable
Trump faced harsh criticism for backing down on his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, earning him the moniker ‘TACO’ for ‘Trump Always Chickens Out’
But Ip notes this is not necessarily a negative for Trump.
To the contrary, Ip said Trump’s behavior leading to this point suggests he was never particularly keen on making such deals to begin with.
Ip argued, ‘This narrative misrepresents Trump’s objectives, exaggerates the significance of deals, and fosters a false sense of security regarding his readiness to increase tariffs.’
When Trump backed down on his steep tariffs, markets rallied and economists breathed a sigh of relief.
But he never removed the 10 percent baseline tariff which he had initially imposed on all goods coming into the United States.
On the campaign trail, Ip notes, a 10 percent tariff seemed like worst-case scenario for markets.
Currently, with Trump’s bold maneuvers and threats of tariffs reaching up to 145 percent (targeting China), the 10 percent tariff seems to have slipped under the radar and is now seen as the most favorable outcome for countries entering negotiations.
In June alone, Treasury pocketed $27billion in customs revenue – $20billion more than it did in the same month last year.
Trump has met with and discussed tariffs with global leaders, but has only struck a deal with the UK so far. Pictured shaking hands with Bahrain’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa
Greg Ip published his latest take on Trump’s tariff wars in the left-leaning publication on Tuesday, sensationally noting Trump is ‘winning’ on trade policy
With higher tariffs on steel and aluminum, the average tariff for all goods coming into the United States as of July 2 was 13.4 percent.
Last year, it was 2.3 percent.
Ip argues in his piece that Trump has no major need to forge new trade deals, because doing so would imply backing down or compromising on something he wants – which isn’t often the Trump way.
But while he said Trump is winning the trade war he created, Ip noted local manufacturing has not skyrocketed as Trump had hoped it would.
Consumers in America are also increasingly feeling the pinch as businesses up their prices to accommodate the tariffs they’re now paying on imported goods.
Ip concluded: ‘Trump might emerge a winner from his trade wars; it remains to be seen if the U.S. will as well.’
Ip’s assessment of Trump’s trade policy may ruffle feathers at the publication, which has drawn Trump’s ire a number of times during this administration.
In May, he gave a reporter from the publication a verbal lashing after asking a question on board Air Force 1.
‘Boy, you people treat us so badly,’ he said of the paper Murdoch acquired in 2007.
‘Wall Street Journal has truly gone to hell… Rotten newspaper. You hear me? What I said? It’s a rotten newspaper.’
Months earlier, he panned it as a ‘globalist’ rag and ‘polluted’ after it criticized his tariffs.
In March, the paper sensationally suggested ‘someone should sue’ over the tariffs and said: ‘He’s treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim.’
