The Impending Doom of Trump’s Trade War

Unfortunately, none of this means the economy will emerge unscathed from Trump’s trade war. We’re in a phony-war period of Trump’s trade conflict. But if the deals prove elusive and the tariff war escalates amid beggar-thy-neighbor tactics, economic reality will assert itself. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that Trump’s exorbitant tariffs have created an effective “embargo” on Chinese goods. That’s especially true of U.S. farmers, who lost tens of billions of dollars in sales thanks to Trump’s trade war with China during his first term (and were made whole only thanks to a hefty bailout).