President Donald Trump is not accepting responsibility for the economic mess he has created as financial markets tumble over his erratic trade policy.
Speaking to reporters during a Cabinet meeting April 30 at the White House, Trump tried to distance himself from the decline in the stock market.
“I’m not taking a credit or discredit for the stock market,” Trump said. “I’m just saying we inherited a mess.”
In typical Trump behavior, he refused in a social media post to accept any responsibility for the economy’s downward direction.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS.”
The president is wrong.
He did not inherit a mess.
Under former President Joe Biden, the economy closed last year running at a solid pace with inflation going down. Prices were steadily easing before most of Trump’s tariffs were implemented.
Trump’s drastic shift in tariff policy has shaken consumer and business confidence.
As The Associated Press accurately reports “Trump inherited a solid economy that had grown steadily despite high interest rates imposed by the Federal Reserve to fight inflation. His erratic trade policies — including 145 percent tariffs on China — have paralyzed businesses and threatened to raise prices and hurt consumers.”
Trump did acknowledge that his tariffs could result in fewer and costlier products in the United States. He says that perhaps American kids “will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.”
Trump’s trade war will impact more than just dolls.
Economists forecast that inflation could reach 3 percent or higher by the end of this year.
Several companies including Amazon, Stanley Black & Decker, the maker of drills and other tools, have or expect to raise prices as a reaction to tariffs. Other companies such as Newell Brands, which makes consumer goods under brand names including Rubbermaid, Paper Mate and Coleman, warned that tariffs on China could hurt profits if they stand.
Tariffs on imported cars and auto parts will cost General Motors between $4 billion and $5 billion this year, according to a GM letter to shareholders, CNN reports.
U.S. agriculture and energy products are the country’s largest exports to China and among the worst hit by Beijing’s retaliatory tariffs, according to a recent report released by the U.S.-China Business Council.
U.S. exports to China support more than 860,000 jobs in the U.S., especially in sectors such as agriculture, aerospace and aviation and semiconductors, the council said.
Tariffs raise prices, reduce available goods, and can lead to lower wages and reduced corporate profits, all of which can negatively impact the stock market and retirement accounts.
Yet Trump says his first 100 days in office have been good for the country. Either he’s delusional or thinks the American people are.
(Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune)