When he was running for president, Donald Trump made a promise to impose heavy tariffs on countries doing business with the United States, including Canada and Mexico. On the campaign trail Trump sounded like a bully who was going to get back at countries that he said were taking advantage of the United States. That message was an easy sell to the hard-core MAGAites, who possess a pseudo-bully mentality when it comes to everything American, and once elected President Trump boldly imposed stiff tariffs as if the United States was so powerful that no other nations had any cards to play in the game.
President Trump followed through on his campaign promise when he imposed 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on all products coming into the U.S.
While imposing the heavy tariffs, Trump acted like there was nothing any country could do, because we are the United States of America. Yesterday, President Trump announced he was delaying tariffs that would impact the auto manufacturers for one month. Today, President Trump crawfished on the tariff deal by announcing a reversal on tariffs on Mexico saying that he has a good relationship with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
This is interesting because there is no reason to believe that Trump’s relationship with the Mexican president suddenly improved over the past few days. That means that President Trump’s bully bark is much worse than his bite.
One strong characteristic of President Trump is his instinct to bully - countries, the media, individuals - with big statements about actions he will take and then essentially back down. After imposing the tariffs on Mexico, Trump heard from auto manufacturers and dealerships about how the tariffs would drastically impact their businesses. So what does he do? He crawfishes back and delays implementation by one month. Now in response to the real-world impact of the tariffs on Mexico, President Trump uses the excuse that his relationship with the Mexican president is suddenly so great that he is delaying implementing the tariffs on most items.
After Trump announced the 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the stock market plummeted 670 points and the S&P 500 saw all gains since Trump was elected wiped out. Hopefully, this is a temporary setback, but some experts fear a deeper market crash as a result of the tariffs.
Donald Trump talked the bully talk about imposing tariffs in the name of the United States of America and that was red meat for the right-wing radicals. But there were to be consequences to imposing stiff tariffs and either Trump is so driven by his ego that he refused to believe that any country would have the power to do anything to America, or he was just oblivious to the potential fallout. In any event, Trump’s promise to impose stiff tariffs on Canada and Mexico has not gone as planned and President Trump is already backing down in the face of reality.
Canada is reacting to President Trump’s 25% tariff. It has been announced that Canada will start removing U.S.-made products from its shelves. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario announced that it will no longer buy any U.S. products. The head of Jack Daniels, an American product, said that removing bottles from bars and shelves and no longer buying American booze is worse than tariffs. In other words, by doing that Canada is hurting the U.S. more than the U.S. is hurting Canada with the tariffs.
On the border - Trump’s promise of mass deportations hasn't happened. After he was inaugurated, President Trump ordered a show for the media of a flurry of raids and arrests, but in his first month in office, President Trump has only deported 37,660 people. The monthly average for deportations under Biden was 57,000 - and this data is from Reuters, one of the most respected non-partisan media sources. It appears the border is more under control and President Trump can take credit for that, but the bully call for massive deportations has been a failure.
The way President Trump has backed down on the strict tariffs he promised demonstrates that much of what Trump does is shallow rhetoric that has no real meaning. And Trump is proving that his bark is much worse than his bite.
