What did Donald Trump do today?

He promised to send the price of medicines (and kitchen remodels) through the roof.

Trump made three social media announcements about new tariffs today. The first was a 100% tax on imported medicines—or, in other words, doubling the wholesale cost of everything from cold medicine to chemotherapy. 

The order teased the possibility of some foreign drugs being exempted if the makers built drug-making facilities in the United States. But the vast majority of pharmaceuticals used by Americans are manufactured overseas. That gives foreign drug manufacturers enormous leverage, because they have very little reason not to simply let American consumers suffer the effects of Trump's tax—and no incentive to build factories in the United States they hadn't planned to otherwise.

The tariff will go into effect in five days, the same point at which health insurance premiums are expected to rise sharply as a result of Trump's budget bill canceling tax credits which funded insurance for poor and middle-class Americans. 

Trump also announced that he would be placing a 50% tax on bathroom vanities and kitchen cabinets. He explained that the reason consumers would have to pay extra for imported countertops and upholstered furniture was, and this is a direct quote, "National Security."

Finally, Trump said he would impose a 25% tax on "all 'Heavy (Big) Trucks' made in other parts of the world" in order to protect our "our Great Large Truck Company Manufacturers, such as Peterbilt, Kenworth, Freightliner, Mack Trucks, and others."

Mack is a subsidiary of Volvo, a Swedish company, and Freightliner is owned by Daimler, a British company.

Why does this matter?

• Any policy that makes medicine harder to get or more expensive for Americans is stupid and harmful, full stop. 

• Either Donald Trump is stupid enough to think that an IKEA couch is a threat to national security, or he thinks you're stupid enough to believe him when he says so. 

• Presidents who want to help American companies should Google whether they actually are American companies before slapping taxes on things.