Bearly Newsworthy: Trump's Trade Tantrum Hides An Uncomfortable Truth

If the rest of the world doesn't want to buy your exploding cars and chlorine-soaked chickens, then trade tariffs aren't the real issue, argues The Bear

Protesters dressed as chlorinated chickens surround a fake Donald Trump in London, 2020. Photo: PA Images / Alamy

There’s this thing called semantic satiation. It’s a psychological term that’s used when you use a certain word so many times that it starts to lose its meaning. Try it – say “blanket” 50 times over. It starts to feel alien, disjointed, like nonsense.

That’s what’s happened to the word “tariff” for me – and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.

Over the past week, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve said, typed, or read it. The discourse online has been relentless – mostly from aggrieved American nationalists who believe with a fiery conviction that American products are being unfairly excluded from global markets by protectionist foreigners who simply don’t get it. They’re convinced that it’s all tariffs imposed on the US. All sabotage. All hatred of freedom and the stars and stripes.

And it’s completely and utterly absurd.

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Strategic Tariffs vs A Tantrum in Public

One thing to note before we get into the meat of this subject – I am largely pro-tariff (at least, “pro” on something that should be considered a market regulation tool). To be more specific, I’m pro-tariff when they’re used as part of a coherent, strategic industrial and trade policy that serves a long-term national or regional interest. I believe in fair trade over free trade. I believe in domestic self-sufficiency. I believe in protecting public standards, sustainability, and workers. Tariffs can be useful levers for all of that.

But what’s happening under the current Trump administration is not that. It’s not a smart recalibration. It’s not a tactical push for equity. It’s a tantrum.

Trump’s new wave of tariffs – ranging from 10% to 104% on everything from agricultural products to steel to beef – aren’t based on violations of World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, product safety, or intellectual property theft. They’re based on a warped interpretation (and wildly inaccurate calculation) of “reciprocity”, filtered through a lens of cultural grievance. The problem, according to this new regime, is that America runs trade deficits with countries like Japan, Germany, or the UK. The solution, they claim, is to impose punitive tariffs on imports until we start buying more of their stuff.

But that only works if the “stuff” is good enough in the first place.

And this is where the conversation gets uncomfortable for a lot of Americans.