And this whole looming disaster hinges on Trump's deficient world-view.

He has always had a win-lose view of business. He cannot win unless you lose. If you did not lose, he did not win. Further, if you get a win, that means that he loses. He would rather that both parties lose than his counter-party wins.

As many here fully understand, international trade is a win-win kind of deal. Each party gets something of benefit from international trade. Looking at it from the US side, by trading with poorer nations, we get goods at a cheaper price than we could produce them ourselves, and they get more jobs and more income. By trading with richer partners (Europe, for example) we each get access to goods that might only be available at higher cost if sourced domestically. Again, a win for each party.

But that win on the part of our trading partners is anathema to Trump. If they win on some point, that means we must have lost. So the imposition of wide ranging and high tariffs slows international trade considerably, meaning the US trading partners have much smaller benefits from that trade. They stop winning. And in Trump's damaged world view, that means he stops losing.

Personally, I think it is as simple as that. At least in his mind.

Hopefully, the words of Bill Clinton will come back to haunt Trump and his compliant MAGA partners in Congress. It's the economy, stupid. These tariffs are going to cause long and lasting pain. The sooner they are lifted, the sooner the pain stops getting worse. But the pain won't stop immediately once the tariffs are lifted. It will take some time for the damage caused by these tariffs to be reversed. And some damage - particularly to our international standing - may not be reversed in the life times of most people reading here.

--Peter