A Cowardly Congress Is Letting Trump Crash the Economy

Donald Trump’s incredible new tariffs amount to a declaration of war on the whole planet. When defending the president, Republicans are leaning towards variations in the saying “short-term pain, long-term benefits.” Republican Sen. Tim Sheehee It was spelled The discussion about CNN states, “There’s absolutely no short-term pain… If you’re going to remodel your home to improve it, then when the house is remodeled and there’s dry wall dust everywhere and there’s workers in your living room, it’s really annoying in the short term.”

The problem with Sheehee’s minority is that there are all reasons why Trump’s tariffs will bring about both short-term pain and even longer-term pain. In other words, far from remodeling a house, Trump is bombing the entire neighborhood. Short-term pain is easy to see: Stock Market It was dropped It lost 6%, $3.1 trillion worth. This is the sharpest decline since March 2000, when the global economy was surprised by the rapid spread of Covid. However, the stock market is just one measure of loss.

What’s even more troublesome is the outlook that Trump could trigger a world trade war. This could lead to a crash comparable to 1929 or 2008. It was provided Some typical meaningless history is, “1929, [an era of prosperity] If it had ended very suddenly with Great Repression and remained on tariff policy, it would have been a completely different story. “In fact, after the stock market crashed in 1929, Congress enacted the infamous Smoot Holy tariffs. Comparable to severity– Stand out, definitely worse – Mut Holy.

Criticism of Trump should not be mistaken for defending the old neoliberal consensus (the one shared by the president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama) in favor of globalized free trade. Rightly condemned by left-wing stubborns Bernie Sanders, among others, to outsource manufacturing jobs, to injure the environment and encourage predatory exploitation of workers in poor countries. However, revising the old neoliberal order required tariff-tariff use as part of careful industrial policy and the creation of new contracts to protect labor and environmental rights. Instead, Trump adopted a sledgehammer approach, applying a one-size formula to virtually every country where the US has a trade deficit.

Additionally, Trump’s trade war creates additional uncertainty due to the president’s intentionally confused management style. Trump’s advisors provide two mutually conflicting explanations as to why tariffs are needed. Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent Talk about tariffs as negotiation tips to readjust trade relations. His argument is that the US is escalating to escalate. He also supported foreign policy Both the Biden and Trump administrations have allowed the conflict to spread throughout the Middle East. Furthermore, businesses cannot be sure how long the tariffs will last or how serious it is. The basis for the negotiation tipping requires certainty in the investment, which also undermines the goal of bringing manufacturing back to the US.

But aside the merits of theory, Bescent’s views contradict those of longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller, an ultra-nationalist. I clearly want the US To become a car. Miller’s goal is to escalate to keep escalating.

Trump’s economic insanity is further exacerbated by the broad features of his second term of office: the complete surrender of the economic and political elite. That’s what Wall Street is like Blind to trade wars. A re-enactment of Trump’s first term was clearly expected when Trump’s extremely loud protectionist rhetoric combined with policies that were far more restrained by simply reshaping existing trade agreements. But many business elites are unhappy with the fact that Trump is currently in a fierce trade war, but they are clearly too scared to say it. His political allies like Trump and Elon Musk are not afraid to unleash the propaganda war against corporate leaders who speak publicly against Trump. Wall Street is frustrated through an anonymous mechanism of lowering stock prices.

But the worst institutional surrender to Trump is Congress. Again, fear factors are of paramount importance, especially among Republicans. But besides political coronavirus, there was constitutional negligence of obligation. Under the Constitution, Parliament has the authority to raise tariffs. In recent decades, Congress has delegated its power to the president. But like a similar mandate of war power, the empowerment of this presidency is highly undemocratic. The underlying principle of this delegation of power is that the president should be allowed to set tariffs in emergencies. This is a rule that is loose enough that it will help create unlimited customs. The president has the imperial authority to freely change policies without the democratic responsibility of building a coalition. Furthermore, if the president is just as whimsical and whimsical as Trump, it undermines the stability that international commerce requires.

The waiver of Congress’ obligations is bipartisan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and nine other Democrats last month Vote for a continuous solution It not only passed the Republican budget, it undermined Congress’s ability to cut Trump’s power to set tariffs arbitrarily.