The Art of (Breaking) The Deal

Anyone investing in Trump's America is taking a giant risk.

Last week: Trump says he’s not going to impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports for at least 30 days.

This week: LOL psyche

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he will introduce new 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., on top of existing metals duties, in another major escalation of his trade policy overhaul.

Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to the NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans, said he will announce the new metals tariffs on Monday.

He also said he will announce reciprocal tariffs on Tuesday or Wednesday, to take effect almost immediately, applying them to all countries and matching the tariff rates levied by each country.

“And very simply, it’s, if they charge us, we charge them,” Trump said of the reciprocal tariff plan.

A Canadian government source told Reuters that Ottawa would not react to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariff announcement until it has more information or sees a written order from Trump.

At least Canada and Mexico, which were under the ridiculous impression they had a free trade deal with the United States, don’t appear to be singled out by Trump this time.

No, the plan here is for all steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. to be slapped with a 25% tariff. Misery loves company, I guess.

Trump also said that while the U.S. government would allow Japan’s Nippon Steel to invest in U.S. Steel, it would not allow this to become a majority stake.

Biden (or whomever was running things in the background while Diagnosis: Murder was on) actually blocked Nippon’s proposed takeover of U.S. Steel on dubious “national security” grounds. Every once in a while you notice that Trump is simply taking long-established political practices to an extreme, not inventing them out of whole cloth.

The question is, are we sure Nippon Steel still wants to invest in an American company right now? Does anyone?