There is simple logic in it. Punish everyone, and then let them come to you asking for exemptions. Then he can demand things in exchange. After that it’s “Pray I don’t alter the deal any further.”

UK already asked for an exemption and he said they should buy chlorinated chicken first. If every country responds in the same way and gives in he’s making bank. If they respond with a boycott on anything American, especially digital services, things get bad.

Then they’ll still think it was a good idea, it just went wrong in the execution.

At the end of the day, there is an arrogance in these tariffs that says the world needs American goods and services more than America needs the world’s goods and that we will cave before America.

That’s not even the case. USA is the biggest importer, helped along by having the world’s reserve currency. Trump’s idea is to force everybody to quickly build factories in America, and manufacturing was part of the golden age, so he brings wealth back to the States. That’s why he keeps yammering on about the trade deficit.

I takes a few years to build a factory, from idea to first product. Many will figure it’s easier to wait for a new president instead of actually committing billions to build out production, find workers and set up a local supply chain.

Trump will be remembered as the spark that caused the old world order to blow up, causing a lot of changes in the way things are done. China becomes the manufacturer of clean energy and uses their new status as having the reserve currency to stamp out all fossil fuels.

Of course there is logic, but not the logic most politicians want to admit. This is simply:

“Nice global economy. It would be a shame if something happened to it. Maybe we can come to an understanding, and this whole tariff thing goes away. You do want free trade, don’t you?”

That’s why Tesla’s full self driving is officially still a level 2 cruise control. But of course they promise to jump directly to level 4 soon™.

Nah. What he wants is bossing others around and taking revenge on people and things that bothered him, or going after things he thinks give him an advantage. That’s usually by bullying people until they give up and do what he wants. His voters like DEI? Bully and force things until it’s stamped out. Justice convicted him, so break justice. Consequences for jobs and the economy, or even the law, don’t matter to him.

The feeling is mutual. The majority of people in the EU are downgrading USA to “necessary partner” now and one fifth sees USA as an ally. Two thirds feels cooperation should be reduced.

Well played Putin, well played.

Yes, because it will impact social programs. That hardship needs to be justified.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Fremantle_Highway

And non of the EV were involved in the fire.

Classic right wing thinking means that for them, the morally righteous can do no wrong, so convictions of embezzlement don’t matter. Laws are there only to punish the undeserving, meaning everyone not in the in-group.