I think a lot of the US negotiators genuinely want a deal. They want the stability and clarity on which business thrives, and they want the opportunities. Most of them lose with a trade war like this.
However, the people calling the shots are the President and his sycophants, so the hardworking and competent people get overridden (if they haven’t already been run over or thrown to the wolves).
If ever there was a time everyone should watch one of John Candy’s last movies, Canadian Bacon, this is it!!!
I saw an interview with Sheldon Whitehouse, senator from Rhode Island. Not sure if it was recent or not.
He said that the only explanation he can think of for Trump’s blundering with tariffs is that Trump vaguely realizes in the back of his “mind” that he’s a failed president, and he’s now determined to bring the entire Republican party down with him. So he has someone to blame. And he’s going to tank the mid-terms for the R’s
It’s certainly a possibility.
I wish you were correct, because it suggests that changing events could cause him to change his mind. But he’s believed merchantilist economic nonsense for 40 years or more. From U.S. public broadcasting:
Trump’s Tariff Strategy Can Be Traced Back to the 1980s
I don’t know why people believe in mercantilism, but historically it is fairly common.
Few of Trump’s opinions are new, and few people have been so open about them.
But the tariffs were an excuse to justify tax cuts, mostly for wealthy people.
He hoped to get $3T from tariffs and his Big Beautiful Boondoggle Bill will cost $4T through to 2035, which the US can easily afford because they have made every effort to win allies, interest rates only go down, diplomatically encouraging continued use of the greenback as a reserve, reassure investors by being extremely consistent and not making dicey changes on apparent whim, do nothing rash to increase volatility, encouraging wealthy people and businesses to pay taxes by strengthening laws and bolstering the agencies, and not threatening illegal taxes or increased tariffs on countries that do invest in US securities in lieu of spending more on American products.
post withdrawn
Trump doesn’t care about the debt. There are a handful of congressional Republicans that need some sort of excuse to only be deficit hawks when a Democrat is in the white house but if Trump turned around tomorrow, admitted that his tarriffs are going to raise virtually no revenue and dropped all of them tomorrow none of them are going to get up in arms about the deficit.
Trump started his 2016 presidency with trying to do America first and for whatever reason his negotiations with Canada specifically triggered his bully instincts where he simultaneously assumes he’s stronger than them and can easily roll them and is outraged that they don’t give in to him, which has led to a self-perpetuating cycle of him making greater and greater threats and demands.
Sure. It’s not a problem until it is.
Excerpt:
“…But when the national debt topped $40 trillion last week — that’s trillion with a T — the collective body politic all but shrugged. Never mind that the U.S. government now owes twice as much money as a share of the economy than two decades ago. Republicans and Democrats issued perfunctory, my-we’re-concerned statements and promptly moved on.
The bond markets were not so sanguine, as a sell-off indicated, but the relative indifference in the nation’s capital demonstrated how drastically the politics of deficit spending has changed in recent years. For generations, the nation’s fiscal imbalance was a constant preoccupation of presidents and members of Congress, a defining issue that shaped the rest of their agendas. Now it seems to be barely an afterthought as Washington borrows heavily to finance tax cuts and spending programs.
Both parties are engaged in a kind of conspiracy of silence about the eye-watering numbers, preferring to concentrate on other issues, whether it be the Iran war or the cost of living…”
The effects of the debt itself are a topic for another thread but I disagree that it’s a motivator for the Trump-era tariffs regardless of the actual concern.
I agree Trump cares nothing about the debt, much more interested in personal gains. But the tariffs are certainly related to tax cuts. They discussed big tax cuts (on the order of $5T to 2035) and “gaining $3T from ??” in Project 2025.
The Chief Negotiator for Canada, Janice Charette, did a CBC interview to debrief Canadians… which will be released tomorrow 
Here’s a taste:
I also must give Trump a hand. The Canada Trade War and “Lake America” name change stunt has now taken firm root in the brains and mouths of the American public.
Anyone mildly informed, has now heard about it across all the US, the Americas, and Europe. This is a story that has taken on a life of its own on the internet. Gone is the wide scale American ignorance of this war (although apathy can set in later). Wow.