The Art of the Crash

The Trump Admin Destroys the American Economy

On April 2nd, Donald Trump announced that the United States would be levying tariffs against nearly every other country on earth. His plan included a 10% flat tariff on all imported goods and higher selective tariffs on individual partners such as China and the European Union. Since the signing of the tariffs (on a date he referred to as “Liberation Day”), the Trump administration has subjected the American economy to a roller-coaster of shocks. Additional tariff increases have been announced in response to retaliatory measures from America’s trading partners, while some are already being quietly walked back. The result of this commotion has been a decline in the value of the American dollar and the erasure of nearly $10 trillion of value from the stock market in just 10 days.

We should begin by recognizing that the decision to levy tariffs and the process of determining tariff rates was fundamentally half-assed by Trump. Unlike in his first administration, there is no room for anyone …