Comment by cryptonector
7 days ago
Look at it from Trump's perspective for a moment. The only tool he has is tariffs, and the people he's negotiating with are not just foreign governments but also Congress. Because he has this authority he can use it to try to bring any of those to the table and negotiate alternative approaches. Not saying that's what he's doing. Just saying that's a possibility.
He's got the entire congress! He's got the entire universe of industrial policy to advance whatever domestic improvements he wants to pursue. Clearly they even have the political capital and appetite to do a massive tax increase!
The Republicans in Congress don't all want the same things, and they have very narrow majorities, so yes, he does have to negotiate with them.
Actually doing positive things is hard. Good presidents like Biden can pass stuff like IRA.
Wrecking shit when you don't care much about who suffers is much easier
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