The Promise of Tariffs
Trump promised them and it looks like we’re going to see how — and whether — the first power granted to Congress works in the 21st century.
If the secret of authority is never to disappoint, as critic Walter Benjamin put it, then what a gamble President Trump is running by throwing up punitive tariffs on America’s top trading partners. He had previously suggested a month’s delay on threatened levies of 10 percent on Communist China and 25 percent on both Canada and Mexico. Yet the president’s press secretary says that the tariffs are full steam ahead. “Promises made and promises kept,” she says.
As of Friday afternoon, it’s not clear if Karoline Leavitt’s remarks amount to bluster in fast-moving negotiations or confirmation that the tariffs are moving ahead for Saturday. Mr. Trump vowed, too, in Oval Office remarks to put new tariffs on steel and oil, among other goods. It was enough to prompt, for some moments, a retreat in the markets before they stabilized. The Dow fell 0.75 percent, the S&P 500 fell 0.50 percent, and the Nasdaq dropped 0.28 percent.
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