Since he began his second term, President Donald Trump has created tension between America and its trade partners. In February, he implemented a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% additional tariff on imports from China.
Now, Trump has incited a nonsensical trade war by imposing elevated tariffs, further damaging the relationship between America and other nations.
On April 2, Trump announced the implementation of new tariffs designed to boost domestic manufacturing. He revealed there will be a 10% tariff on imports from all countries effective April 5.
Moreover, a 34% tax on imports from China, 20% on the European Union, 25% on South Korea, 24% on Japan and 32% on Taiwan will go into effect on April 9.
Furthermore, in what seems to be a display of sheer incompetence, tariffs were imposed on two remote islands populated mostly by penguins: the Heard and McDonald Islands, despite not having been visited by humans in almost a decade.
Of course, if the Penguins can afford their little tuxedos, they can afford to pay tariffs — after all, it would be unacceptable for them to provide cheap igloos on American soil. This is clearly an accident, but it only shows these tariffs were implemented hastily and without much thought.
Following this announcement, China intends to impose 34% retaliatory tariffs on all U.S. imports starting April 10. Only time will tell how Trump responds to this — hopefully not with more tariffs, but crashing the economy seems to be his end-goal.
Trump bet his whole presidency on the hope that Americans were too ignorant to know what tariffs were — and this was found to be true. Some conservatives defended these taxes by saying, “You do not need the new iPad. You do not need the new cell phone [and] you do not need the new video game console. You want them. There is a big difference, and if you look at the people whining about the tariffs, I challenge you to ask them how their lives have been affected in any way.”
These tariffs will impact American citizens, and simply ignoring them will not make them disappear. Contrary to popular belief, ignorance is not always bliss. From clothing to computers to groceries, these taxes will affect everyone negatively.
This prompts what could be an excruciating transition for many Americans, as middle-class essentials — such as housing, cars and clothing — are expected to become more expensive, while Trump continues to disrupt international alliances that used to ensure peace and economic stability. With a high likelihood of inflation, Trump is risking a global recession — the likes of which have not been seen since 2009.
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