Outside the Beltway

Source: The White House

Tariffs are Magic!

Trump’s One Weird Trick to end the war in Ukraine.

Steven L. Taylor
15

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Source: The White House

This is, of course, quite silly.

Via the AP: Live updates: Trump threatens Russia with tariffs if war on Ukraine isn’t resolved

President Donald Trump said Monday he would punish Russia with tariffs if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days, the latest example of his growing anger with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump made the announcement during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“We’re going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days,” the Republican president said. He said they would be “secondary tariffs,” meaning they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.

In addition to the tariff threat, European allies plan to buy military equipment and then transfer it to Ukraine. Rutte said “speed is of the essence here,” and that the agreement should make Putin “reconsider” peace negotiations.

Don’t get me wrong: I favor putting pressure on Russia, to include an array of sanctions. I am glad that Trump seems to finally be seeing that Putin is not an honest broker.

But Trump’s reliance on tariffs and silly, arbitrary deadlines is just absurd and childlike. It is doubly silly because he keeps making threats and then backing down.

And this specific course of action will lead to conflict with India and China, who buy a lot of oil from Russia.

See this CFR brief for info on sanctions: Three Years of War in Ukraine: Are Sanctions Against Russia Making a Difference?

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15 responses to “Tariffs are Magic!”

  1. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    I’m reminded of a Pinky and The Brain ep set in the Renaissance or Middle Ages*, where several times someone suggests to another to use leeches because “They’re good for everything!”

    *I think it was the Robin Hood ep. Brain sets himself up as Robin Brain who takes from the rich and gives to himself.

    2
  2. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    Trump is still protecting Putin. 50 days is the usual Trump bluster that precedes the TACO. As for the weapons to Ukraine, these are, IIRC, still just the Biden deal weapons which may or may not actually make it to Ukraine.

    2
  3. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    I am glad that Trump seems to finally be seeing that Putin is not an honest broker.

    It’s a little horrifying to see just how detached from reality he is that he hasn’t seen that up to now. He believes most of the shit he is selling, whether it’s that gas is under $2/gallon or that he can bring peace to Ukraine through his relationship with Putin.

    3
  4. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    Trump should put tariffs on Hamas.

    3
  5. Jay L. Gischer Avatar
    Jay L. Gischer

    @Gustopher:

    “If you want to fool the world, first fool yourself.”

    Google is saying this comes from Feynman (AI garbage, sigh), but I’m pretty sure I’m referencing an old Japanese saying.

  6. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    U. S. imports from Russia fell from about 30 billion in 2021 to under 3.5 billion last year. The bulk of that is fertilizer and “pearls, precious stones, metals, and coins”. As usual, Trump’s trying to have it both ways. He wants to be seen as a strongman threatening Putin, while not really threatening Putin.

    7
  7. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Jay L. Gischer: “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” – G. Constanza.

    5
  8. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    It’s pointless.
    After the impact of sanctions (albeit patchily enforced and leaky) on US imports from Russia, tariffs are really rather trivial.
    And speak more to Trump’s “magical thinking” on the whole topic of tariffs.

    The re-opening of supply of Patriot systems is more important.
    Though given the use of drones as the primary Russian weapon, the key need is for more systems directed at that threat.
    It continues to miss the point that forcing Putin to reconsider requires both defensive and offensive systems.

    2
  9. Daryl Avatar
    Daryl

    So please explain how charging Americans more, for Russian goods, is going to incentivize Putin to pull out of Ukraine.? This is just dumb.
    What the tariffs have done, as if magically, is blow up the trade deficit. Up 18.7% from last month.

    3
  10. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @JohnSF: @Daryl:
    Putin has the Epstein list. Yeah, I know there’s no proof, but it does fit with the known facts.

    2
  11. dazedandconfused Avatar
    dazedandconfused

    @JohnSF:

    I suspect the word “tariff” has become something of a broken record in his head these days. Everybody gets a tariff!

  12. Gustopher Avatar
    Gustopher

    @Michael Reynolds: If Putin had the Epstein list, and Trump’s name were on it, I would expect the Trump admin to release a fake list without Trump, so if Putin ever releases the real list they can more believably call it fake. Someone in Trump’s orbit is smart enough to suggest this.

    I think you are trying too hard to create logical reasons for Trump’s pro-Russian and pro-Putin behavior. He just likes them.

    He likes dictators because he longs to be one, and he likes Russia in particular because they’ve helped him win elections (they just wanted to hurt America by putting an idiot in charge), and because his Evangelical supporters like Putin’s good Christian values like hating the gays.

    He’s a very stupid person who craves validation. It started with a desire to be included by the Manhattan rich, despite being from Queens, and has continued from there.

    Somewhere there might be an FSB agent filing status reports, taking credit for everything. I kind of hope there is, honestly. That guy should eventually defect and sell his story, and get a Coen Brothers “when idiots collide” movie made from it. (It could be an update to or plagiarize from Graham Greene’s Our Man In Havana)

    ——
    If we canned the Secretary General of the UN the President of the World, I think we might be able to get him to “trade up” from being President of the US. Toss in a Nobel Peace Prize as an incentive.

    10
  13. Barry_D Avatar
    Barry_D

    @Michael Reynolds
    “Putin has the Epstein list. Yeah, I know there’s no proof, but it does fit with the known facts.”

    He’d be ten times a fool not to have it, or the equivalent.
    Drug-fueled orgies with underage girls/boys?

    That’s espionage gold.

    1
  14. JohnSF Avatar
    JohnSF

    @Michael Reynolds:
    Or else Bibi?

    I know, Mossad, Jewish conspiracy, all that tedious bullshit fom the alt-right and the campist left.
    Which makes me often default to no “list” at all.
    But ol’ Cap’n Bob was generally thought to play games with Israeli and Soviet and Western agencies.

    Given dear Ghislaine’s involvement …
    The question though might be: does any such “list” come with actual evidence of malfeasance?

    If I was in the game, the obvious counter-move to an actual “list” would be to publicise multiple, and apparently first-sight “documented” lists that rapidly fell to pieces under scrutiny.
    Muddy the information pool.

    2
  15. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    I’m not sure how time works in Trump World. Is 50 days longer or shorter than two weeks? Anyway I’m sure Putin is rigid with terror in his bed at night, just as he was in early March:

    “Based on the fact that Russia is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now, I am strongly considering large scale Banking Sanctions, Sanctions, and Tariffs on Russia until a Cease Fire and FINAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ON PEACE IS REACHED. To Russia and Ukraine, get to the table right now, before it is too late. Thank you!!!”

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