What did Donald Trump do today?
He shrugged off the consequences of his trade war with China.
As expected, China retaliated against Trump's imposition of tariffs with $50 billion worth of its own, targeting American soybean farmers and automobile workers, among others.
Trump responded with this tweet:
When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
(Trump apparently continues to believe that money the US spends on foreign goods is somehow lost to the United States forever.)
Later in the day, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders picked up the theme, saying that Trump wasn't concerned about "a little bit of short-term pain" as a result of China's inevitable retaliation.
The chief economist at Moody's Analytics, Mark Zandi, estimated that this round of tariffs alone will cost the United States about 190,000 jobs, and about 6% of the total gains in GDP from last year. Even though the tariffs have not gone into effect, they are already costing American farmers money as futures prices for targeted crops plummeted.
Later in the day, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders picked up the theme, saying that Trump wasn't concerned about "a little bit of short-term pain" as a result of China's inevitable retaliation.
The chief economist at Moody's Analytics, Mark Zandi, estimated that this round of tariffs alone will cost the United States about 190,000 jobs, and about 6% of the total gains in GDP from last year. Even though the tariffs have not gone into effect, they are already costing American farmers money as futures prices for targeted crops plummeted.
What's the problem here?
- A president who can't be bothered by the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs is unfit to serve.
- It's bad if the president can't understand the most basic facts about international trade.