United States President Donald Trump has undertaken to lead the cause of reforming international trade in the interests of the US, a purported step towards which was the announcement on April 2 of reciprocal tariffs.
President Unfazed by Criticism Amid Market Reactions and Economic Fallout
The tariffs have left the US markets in shock, which are currently witnessing their worst crash post-Covid pandemic. The global economies are also crashing, causing threat of possible recession and trade war.
The US President, though, appears adamant not to yield to criticism against him. This is the same strategy he allegedly employed while taking the draconian tariff decision.
White House Insider: Donald Trump Has ‘Stopped Caring’
A White House official informed the Washington Post that President Donald Trump has hit “the high point of just not giving a f— anymore”. Writing in an article that reports back on Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ retaliatory tariffs announcement behind the scenes, the Post reported quoting a White House official close to Trump’s line of thinking, saying, “Bad news stories? Doesn’t give a f—. He’s going to do what he’s going to do.”. He’s going to do what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail.”
Quite Unlike 1st Term of Donald Trump
Donald Trump significantly surrounded himself with alleged yes-men who displayed minimal to no opposition to his tariff proposals, the report by the Washington Post reads. This did not happen during Trump’s first term.
First Term Advisors Curbed Tariff Push
Trump’s closest advisors in his first term, including then director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn and then treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, succeeded in curbing the US President’s aggressive tariff stance.
Loyalty-First Approach in Second Term
The report quoted a senior White House official as saying, “In the first term, everyone thought they were president.”
But Trump encountered virtually no opposition this time in implementing his trade and tariff remake. The senior government officials who assisted Trump in developing policies regarding the new tariffs brought many options before him, but the luxury of the final approval rested with the President.
“In their recruiting process, they made sure it would only be people who were totally Trumpers, because in the first administration, there was a lot of trouble with people quitting, writing bad books, things like that…The people now have been confirmed as true Trumpers” said Wilbur Ross, commerce secretary of Trump’s first term, told the Washington Post.
