America is living in tariff limbo
- Tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have caused economic instability, with the stock market losing around $10 trillion in value over a few days.
- The tariffs are not traditional trade policy, but rather a “fishing expedition” to extract concessions from trade partners and US companies.
- Millions of people are concerned that the Trump administration’s actions are leading towards billionaire-helmed fascism, with examples including mass firings of federal employees and arrests of immigrants without criminal records.
- The tariffs have also led to widespread criticism across the political spectrum, even from Trump’s own supporters who are worried about the economic consequences.
- Experts argue that the tariffs are a way for Trump to extract concessions and spin them as a win for him, rather than addressing legitimate trade issues or promoting American interests.
For millions of people, any one of the many unprecedented actions in the first 100 days of the second Trump presidency was enough to show that the US is barreling toward – or has already arrived at – billionaire-helmed fascism. Sure, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has indiscriminately fired thousands of federal employees and gutted the parts of the federal government that protect everyday people. And elsewhere, government funds are being spent on arresting immigrants with no criminal record and sending them to languish in prisons abroad; college students are being disappeared for their opinions on Palestine. But what really seems to have triggered Americans all across the political spectrum is Trump’s plan to levy steep tariffs on just about every country on Earth, and the resulting economic instability. When the stock market lost around $10 trillion in value over the course of a few days earlier in April following the announcement, even Trump’s loudest boosters started to worry.
Trump’s tariffs are not trade policy as much as they are a fishing expedition: What can he extract from trade partners and from US companies that can be spun as a win for him? Ea …
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