i’m waiting for all the paid trump-hating trolls here to attack President Trump’s various trade negotiators on this thread since they know better than to attack President Trump himself ... you know, their standard attacks that President Trump’s representatives are incompetent, aren’t working fast enough, good enough, etc., etc. ...
The Trump critics don’t understand or pretend not to understand that what they describe as a sloppy, failed roll out was actually a deliberate feature.
It was the only way to get everyone to the table quickly. Scare the hell out of everybody with massive tariffs for a week or two to show how far you’re willing to go, then back off for those countries that want to negotiate. The tariffs can always be slapped back on for any countries negotiating in bad faith, and knowing that, gives countries all the more incentive to reach a quick deal.
Dealing in this way also discourages our trading partners from working behind our backs to create a united front to oppose us. Instead it creates a competition among them to be the first to reach a deal. To heighten their motivation, Trump has suggested that those who reach a deal first will get better terms.
Trump’s rollout was the opposite of poorly planned. It was actually quite brilliant, especially if you consider that had he tried the traditional approach of negotiating with Japan, South Korea, UK, EU, etc. individually, one at a time, it would have been impossible to institute such a massive change in trade policy at all, let alone in a timely manner. Had he taken the traditional approach, as he did in his first term, he’d have been lucky to get a handful of trade deals done by the end of his term.