Since returning to office, President Donald Trump’s trade strategy has largely revolved around poorly solving the problems of his own creation. Just in the last week we’ve seen him trumpet supposedly historic deals that, on closer inspection, fail to even undo the damage that he caused in the first place. As the number of these quasi-agreements pile up, with little to show to American consumers or manufacturers and none of the major deals he’d promised in sight, it will be hard for his administration to keep ignoring the growing mess that he’s made.
It’s hard to see what — if anything — the U.S. has gotten out of the last four months
Most recently, the U.S. and China reached at least a temporary ceasefire in the trade war that Trump launched shortly after his return to office. When talks began in Geneva over the weekend, American companies were paying a 145% tariff on goods imported from China, a truly ludicrous number that was entirely unsustainable from the moment it was levied. The number only ratcheted that high in the first place due to Trump’s mistaken belief that China would quickly back down from a trade fight. Instead, China retaliated with tariffs of its own and refused to yield to Trump’s demands for major concessions.
Looking at the deal the two countries announced Monday morning, it’s hard to see what — if anything — the U.S. has gotten out of the last four months. The two sides agreed to reduce tariffs on each other’s products, with a 30% levy remaining on Chinese imports to the U.S. and a 10% rate for American imports to China, with more formal talks to come. But that still doesn’t undo the several weeks of uncertainty that U.S. companies have faced and the several weeks this summer where shelves will likely reflect the slowdown in traffic at West Coast seaports.
Those talks with Beijing came on the heels of Trump announcing a supposed trade agreement with Britain, the first since “Liberation Day” early last month. But both sides begrudgingly admitted last week that despite the fanfare, there was no actual deal in place to be signed as many of the details remain to be ironed out. What little information was given made clear the pending deal is not the sweeping agreement that Trump would prefer, one that could replace the losses from London leaving the European Union. And, adding insult to injury, the universal 10% import tariff that Trump had ordered would remain in place for British goods.
Trump had caused less of a rift with the U.K., long one of America’s closest allies, than with China, but even in trying to patch up that relationship he damaged another. As part of his tariff crusade, in late March he imposed a 25% tariff on imported vehicles and foreign-made auto parts, in theory to help support domestic automakers. Last month, under pressure from those U.S. automakers, the White House retreated slightly, creating a still-complicated scheme to offset some of the stacked import fees that were hammering the U.S. companies’ bottom lines.
The efforts to then undo the problems he causes will remain themselves half-hearted, so long as Trump is still convinced that the tariffs will pay off handsomely.
And now those same companies are now frustrated about one of the few details we do know about the deal-to-be with Britain. As Fortune reported last week, the announced tentative framework “would see among other concessions the U.S. drop its 25% sectoral tariff down to 10% of a vehicle’s value, a level that reflects the U.K.’s own duty on imported cars. While that is only valid for the first 100,000 vehicles — with any cars above and beyond that once again subject to the full duty — it neatly matches the volumes exported from Britain last year.”
None of this flailing has improved America’s standing in the global economy. Nor has it persuaded Americans skeptical about the supposed positive impact from Trump’s economic plans. Perhaps that’s because even when the president is clearly backing down, as he has repeatedly since taking office, he persists in arguing that tariffs are a panacea for ailing American companies. The efforts to then undo the problems he causes will remain themselves half-hearted, so long as Trump is still convinced that the tariffs will pay off handsomely.
It is a commonly understood bit of courtesy that if you cause a spill, you should be the one to clean it up. As such, if you then demand praise for doing so, you’ll likely catch a bit of a side-eye — especially if it turns out the floor is still messier than it was to begin with. Trump is demanding not just praise but adulation for his dealmaking skills even as the mess he made continues to stain America’s good name and trickle down to U.S. consumers.