The U.S. has already lost Donald Trump’s trade war. It’s now up to the president to decide how disastrous that loss will be.
The best-case scenario for the U.S. economy right now is the Trump administration fully backing down and acknowledging this loss, and quickly. Each day that passes locks in more economic damage.
Like a recalcitrant general, Trump doesn’t appear ready to surrender, saying Friday that he wants to reinstate the tariffs he put in place in early April and paused shortly thereafter.
“We have, at the same time, 150 countries that want to make a deal, but you’re not able to see that many countries,” he said Friday in Abu Dhabi. “So at a certain point, over the next two to three weeks, I think [Treasury Secretary] Scott [Bessent] and [Commerce Secretary] Howard [Lutnick] will be sending letters out, essentially telling people ― we’ll be very fair ― but we’ll be telling people what they’ll be paying to do business in the United States.”