How Long Until America Inc Revolts On Trump?

(MENAFN- Asia Times) I do not believe that Donald Trump is secretly a Russian plant, hired by the Kremlin to destroy America's economy and global influence. But frustratingly, Trump's actions are often indistinguishable from what he might do if he were a foreign agent bent on destruction. Let's take stock of some of his latest moves.

First, there's yet another round of tariffs, this time on the auto industry. This time Trump is putting 25% tariffs on imported cars and car parts . Since many US cars use foreign parts, and US-made parts are often assembled into full cars across the border, these tariffs will disrupt the entire US auto supply chain (the Cato Institute has a great explainer on how this works , if you're interested.)

Prices will go up for American consumers, and costs will go up for US manufacturers. Predictably, American automakers saw big declines in their stock prices:

Many of Trump's followers, of course, believe that the pain is only temporary - that after a period of adjustment, US auto manufacturers will invest more in America and ultimately benefit from the lack of foreign competition.

But stock prices are forward-looking - when GM and Ford see their stocks decline, it means that investors expect them to suffer not just in the short term, but over the long term as well. In other words, investors are not buying the“short-term pain for long-term gain” thesis.

The auto tariffs will have ramifications all throughout the supply chain. Auto insurance rates will probably go up too . And upstream industries that supply the auto industry, such as American steelmakers, will be hurt as well :

Trump's tariffs are hurting all the industries that they're theoretically intended to protect.

The oil industry - a long-time bastion of Republican support - will be hurt as well, because of the increased cost of drilling equipment. Here's Tracy Alloway in Bloomberg :

Oil rig counts are flat ;“drill, baby, drill” is a distant memory.

Trump and his people simply have no idea how manufacturing, mining, drilling, and other industries actually work. It's all theory, no actual knowledge. And when reality doesn't cooperate, Trump himself doesn't even notice or care ; instead, he simply lets the American people suffer for his theory's failures.

Even Trump's inner circle (except for his economic guru Peter Navarro) is starting to feel mystified. Here's some reporting by Politico :

The auto tariff move - which comes in advance of another huge wave of tariffs that's expected to be announced on April 2 - will only add to a growing attitude of economic pessimism. The broader stock market declined after the announcement . Sentiment is falling among rich and poor alike:

Source: Heather Long

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