Tariffs: Why Trump blinked, is blinking, and will continue to blink (1 Viewer)

[Rumblefish]

"President Trump got a scare from CEOs and markets on Monday. On Tuesday, he blunted some of his sharpest threats — signaling a softer stance on China and retreating from fiery rhetoric targeting the Fed.

• The big box CEOs flat out told him [Trump] the prices aren't going up, they're steady right now, but they will go up. And this wasn't about food. But he was told that shelves will be empty," an administration official familiar with the meeting told Axios.
• Another official briefed on the meeting said the CEOs told Trump disruptions could become noticeable in two weeks."

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-economy-tariffs-china-powell

CEOs of Walmart, Target, and Home Depot took Trump to the wood shed.

 

[Greenbeard]

He doesn't have the cards.

 

[Mycroft]

"President Trump got a scare from CEOs and markets on Monday. On Tuesday, he blunted some of his sharpest threats — signaling a softer stance on China and retreating from fiery rhetoric targeting the Fed.

• The big box CEOs flat out told him [Trump] the prices aren't going up, they're steady right now, but they will go up. And this wasn't about food. But he was told that shelves will be empty," an administration official familiar with the meeting told Axios.
• Another official briefed on the meeting said the CEOs told Trump disruptions could become noticeable in two weeks."

https://www.axios.com/2025/04/23/trump-economy-tariffs-china-powell

CEOs of Walmart, Target, and Home Depot took Trump to the wood shed.

A lot of spin and speculation in that article, but from the Trump side, this is relevant...

"This is what Donald Trump does. He leads with leverage," the official said. "He gets people to the table. China has expressed interest in negotiation. And the president has made clear that if they play ball, he'll play ball, too."​

Since China is blinking, Trump can afford to soften a bit. But rest assured, if China gets froggy Trump won't hesitate to pile on the tariffs against them.

Regarding the big box retailers, they've taken their shot at Trump. Perhaps it's now time for them to talk to China.

 

[Quag]

He doesn't have the cards.

And he lost his marbles a long time ago

 

[bongsaway]

A lot of spin and speculation in that article, but from the Trump side, this is relevant...

"This is what Donald Trump does. He leads with leverage," the official said. "He gets people to the table. China has expressed interest in negotiation. And the president has made clear that if they play ball, he'll play ball, too."​

Since China is blinking, Trump can afford to soften a bit. But rest assured, if China gets froggy Trump won't hesitate to pile on the tariffs against them.

Regarding the big box retailers, they've taken their shot at Trump. Perhaps it's now time for them to talk to China.

Lol, Donald has them right where he wants them, giving him lots of bad news. Face it, his policies are failing so he's flailing.

 

[Callen]

I think he's truly shocked that no key trading partners have come begging. It's dawning on him that his bullying, threatening and punishing tactics are not working the way he thought they would. That and all the push back from every angle has him in a corner..

 

[dmpi]

Trump don't want to take down the CCP and make China spin out of control taking our economy down with it. There's a time to be aggressive and there's a time to back off. Clearly other countries have aligned with Trump on taking down China which has been nothing short of a southeast Asia economic and political bully. Expect to see trade barriers for US goods vaporize as Trump's team re-negotiate tariffs. It's a paradox but in order to get rid other countries tariffs, Trump had to institute massive tariffs of his own. Tit-for-tat.

 

[Callen]

Trump don't want to take down the CCP and make China spin out of control taking our economy down with it. There's a time to be aggressive and there's a time to back off. Clearly other countries have aligned with Trump on taking down China which has been nothing short of a southeast Asia economic and political bully. Expect to see trade barriers for US goods vaporize as Trump's team re-negotiate tariffs. It's a paradox but in order to get rid other countries tariffs, Trump had to institute massive tariffs of his own. Tit-for-tat.

Is that the Fox spin this AM? It isn't China that would spin out of control it is the US. Not sure what other countries you are talking about but most of the US trading partners are looking to strengthen trade deal with China. To my knowledge no major partner has initiated talks with Trump.

 

[Michael Cole]

A lot of spin and speculation in that article, but from the Trump side, this is relevant...

"This is what Donald Trump does. He leads with leverage," the official said. "He gets people to the table. China has expressed interest in negotiation. And the president has made clear that if they play ball, he'll play ball, too."​

Since China is blinking, Trump can afford to soften a bit. But rest assured, if China gets froggy Trump won't hesitate to pile on the tariffs against them.

Regarding the big box retailers, they've taken their shot at Trump. Perhaps it's now time for them to talk to China.

???

Leverage? If he's constantly backing off, he has no leverage. What you see as leverage everyone else sees as a bluff.

 

[Greenbeard]

I think he's truly shocked that no key trading partners have come begging. It's dawning on him that his bullying, threatening and punishing tactics are not working the way he thought they would. That and all the push back from every angle has him in a corner..

The reality is, we’re on the verge of COVID II (I.e., the 2020 shortages as global supply chains broke down and shipping containers sat idle). This one generated entirely by one man’s idiotic economic policies. And Trump wasn’t so hot at dealing with that economic mess the first time around. So he has to blink.

 

[BabaVoss]

He doesn't have the cards.

He doesn’t have a plan.
Each day he assesses social media and the last person he talked to and makes some stupid decision.
He will likely flip flop on that decision within days or weeks.
Meanwhile, he golfs - a lot - at taxpayer expense.

Donald is mentally unstable, psychologically damaged, and deeply fragile guy.

 

[Callen]

The reality is, we’re on the verge of COVID II (I.e., the 2020 shortages as global supply chains broke down and shipping containers sat idle). This one generated entirely by one man’s idiotic economic policies. And Trump wasn’t so hot at dealing with that economic mess the first time around. So he has to blink.

Many things converged to caused him to blink. Just thank goodness he did....well it seems as if he well.

Like so many other things, it isn't that his idea is so bad as it is his chaotic and knee jerk execution of his ideas. We see it in trade, deportations, government efficiency and cutbacks. All not bad on the surface but he has no ability and no staff with the ability to actually excrete them successfully. The only thing being executed successfully is project 2025 and that's becasue Vought is in charge and Trump is not actively involved.

 

[BabaVoss]

One thing we know about trump is that he will flip-flop again.

 

[ElChupacabra]

A lot of spin and speculation in that article, but from the Trump side, this is relevant...

"This is what Donald Trump does. He leads with leverage," the official said. "He gets people to the table. China has expressed interest in negotiation. And the president has made clear that if they play ball, he'll play ball, too."​

Since China is blinking, Trump can afford to soften a bit. But rest assured, if China gets froggy Trump won't hesitate to pile on the tariffs against them.

Regarding the big box retailers, they've taken their shot at Trump. Perhaps it's now time for them to talk to China.

This right here is the spin, because one would have to be drinking a potent brand of Fool-Aid to think anything that's happened is "leading with leverage". The first question to ask is why Donnie Boy decided to lead with tariffs instead of negotiations first, and tariffs if negotiations go nowhere. Tanking markets (specifically the bond market) and downgrading trust in the US economy seems like an idiotic step when not attempting to negotiate first. Access to our markets is the leverage, but acting first did far more harm than needed. China never took a hard stance at negotiation to warrant that kind of action first, and throughout this fiasco they've stated they preferred to negotiate. What Donnie Boy's done a great job at is making himself into a paper tiger. Now the US' trade partners know he'll blink and what will make him blink. He doesn't know how to play cards apparently.

 

[Rumblefish]

Is that the Fox spin this AM? It isn't China that would spin out of control it is the US. Not sure what other countries you are talking about but most of the US trading partners are looking to strengthen trade deal with China. To my knowledge no major partner has initiated talks with Trump.

The CCP survived an invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army.

It survived - and won - a civil war with Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek.

It survived Mao and his Cultural Revolution.

It survived the collapse of the Soviet Union - its ideological brother in arms.

I hardly think that four more years (at most) of Trump poses an existential threat to it.

 

[EnchantedMuggle]

Trump don't want to take down the CCP and make China spin out of control taking our economy down with it. There's a time to be aggressive and there's a time to back off. Clearly other countries have aligned with Trump on taking down China which has been nothing short of a southeast Asia economic and political bully. Expect to see trade barriers for US goods vaporize as Trump's team re-negotiate tariffs. It's a paradox but in order to get rid other countries tariffs, Trump had to institute massive tariffs of his own. Tit-for-tat.

GOP every single time Trump ****s up: "It's 4D chess"

 

[Callen]

The CCP survived an invasion by the Imperial Japanese Army.

It survived - and won - a civil war with Chinese Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek.

It survived Mao and his Cultural Revolution.

It survived the collapse of the Soviet Union - its ideological brother in arms.

I hardly think that four more years (at most) of Trump poses an existential threat to it.

Agreed and the ability of the Chinese people to survive personal adversity is rock solid. This generation of Americans on the other hand know nothing about serious personal adversity. They are soft and used to their lifestyle.