Given that, Trump's pull back made some sense. But it has never been particularly clear what the White House's strategy was in the first place. Aides such as Navarro insisted tariffs were here to stay and were not meant to be viewed as leverage to spur negotiations. And even as Trump suggested that the tariffs were bad-tasting "medicine" that Americans would have to swallow for the economy to reset, he continued to boast about nations calling him to strike deals to avoid the levies.
On Wednesday, the administration insisted that bargaining was always the plan.
"President Trump created maximum negotiating leverage for himself," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose role on Trump's trade team has been elevated.
Leverage is clearly something Trump believes in, whether it's using the power of his office to force law firms to the bargaining table, freeze funds for universities whose policies he opposes or threaten Iran with a military strike if it doesn't agree to abandon its nuclear program.
But this seemed to be more of a case where Trump had to put out a fire he started himself before it burned the house down.
Even so, Wednesday's reprieve may be short-lived. Trump is still escalating his trade war with China, which is showing no signs of backing down. And Wall Street analysts say the U.S. remains a difficult environment in which to do business because of the president's unpredictability. Three months is not a lot of time for Trump to reboot the country's economic relationship with the rest of the world – if that was really his goal in the first place.
Megyn Kelly -> Pete Hegseth responds to 2017 rape accusation. 🔥 vol. 3, issue 13 | December 6, 2024 Quick Hits All the news you need in...
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