Subject: Re: One Possible Tariff Endgame
Imperfect? I'd choose distracted and unserious as my adjectives for Europe these days.

The EU is still the second largest economy on earth. Second largest in the world by volume of imports, second largest in the world by volume of exports. They are enormous in the global economic stage, whatever imprecations you wish to hurl at them. Add in the other major OECD players, and the balance of the Western economies is bigger in all respects than the U.S. So if you want to go to economic war against China, it's foolhardy beyond belief to not do it in concert with those countries.

I'd rather have gone that route also. But that's neither here nor there at this point, yes? I'll let you pick the metaphor about spilled milk or water under the bridge or the train having left the station.

No. After all, the Administration could admit their error, scrap the tariffs as ill-considered, and contritely express their desire to focus primarily on containing China and work to repair the relationship with the rest of the major global economic powers. It will be hard, because the U.S. has burned trust and goodwill that took eight decades to build. But it's the correct move if you're putting U.S. interests first. I know DJT doesn't do contrition, so that's a fantasy. But the fact that his personal failings don't allow him to change course doesn't mean that it's not possible. He's just going to keep compounding his error, instead of climbing down.

The metaphor I'd use is that "if you're in a hole, stop digging." The Administration has committed a disastrous error with this tariff policy. With each passing day that they continue to pursue it, the damage increases. They won't be able to undo all the damage, of course - but they could mitigate by abandoning this course. Rather than pretending that there's no alternative than to keep pressing on.