Anyone that knocks Donald Trump….
Friend or Foe gets Trump’s wrath in the media….
That includes a business friendly lobbying outfit …..
Donald Trump tore into an official of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who accused the president Monday of “weaponizing” tariffs and hurting American businesses, farmers and consumers.
Trump responded by insulting Myron Brilliant, head of international affairs at the largest business lobbying organization in the U.S., calling him “not so brilliant.” Trump also accused the association of being more supportive of companies than “for our country” because it did not back his trade war.
Brilliant’s attack — and the president’s slam back — occurred on CNBC, with Trump calling into the “Squawk Box” program after Brilliant’s comments.
Brilliant agreed that some international trade agreements need to be renegotiated, but he warned that threats, unpredictability and tariffs aren’t good strategies.
“The weaponization of tariffs — the increase of threats on our economy, on our farmers, our manufacturers, our consumers — is going to hurt our country,” Brilliant said. Trump’s trade war last year cost U.S companies and consumers an estimated $3 billion a month in higher prices.
The “weaponization” criticism likely referred to Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on Mexico not because of any trade issue but as a cudgel to force the country to stem the number of immigrants heading to the U.S. border.
One of the greatest enemies of any business, from a sidewalk vendor to a Fortune 500 multi-national, is any added uncertainty.
Businesses have to plan ahead, which requires predicting where they will be in the future and in what overall environment. That already involves so many inherent uncertainties (suppliers, inventory prices, consumer demand, the labor market, competitors) that they want to reduce any added uncertainty — from tax policy, interest rates, regulations, the minimum wage — created by controllable government action to be as small as possible.
Volatile and apparently arbitrary tariffs add just another very unwelcome uncertainty.
180 Degrees from how Trump operates….
Choas….
Back and forth…
His track record shows he’s terrible at ‘deals’…
And now he has America’s money and well being to gamble with….
More than 600 U.S. companies and industry trade associations — including Walmart, Costco, Target and Foot Locker — wrote to President Trump on Thursday, copying senior members of his Cabinet to urge them to relent on the trade battle with China.
What they’re saying: “Broadly applied tariffs are not an effective tool to change China’s unfair trade practices,” the group said in the letter, which was backed by the National Retail Federation’s anti-tariff lobbying campaign Tariffs Hurt the Heartland. “Tariffs are taxes paid directly by U.S. companies, including those listed below—not China.”…
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