No, this isn’t about trade. Trump doesn’t understand trade and apparently neither does Peter Navarro:
White House trade advisor Peter Navarro said Monday that an offer by Vietnam to eliminate tariffs on U.S. imports would not be enough for the administration to lift its new levies announced last week.
“Let’s take Vietnam. When they come to us and say ‘we’ll go to zero tariffs,’ that means nothing to us because it’s the nontariff cheating that matters,” Navarro said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The examples of nontariff “cheating” cited by Navarro included Chinese products being routed through Vietnam, intellectual property theft and a value-added tax.
Trump said just the other day that before “liberation day” countries wouldn’t do him the favors he seeks but now they’re coming on bended knee. Trade might be part of it. But who knows what he wants? He could demand that they outlaw windmills outside his golf courses and there would be nothing anyone could do about it.
This morning a false rumor went around that Trump was pausing the tariffs for 90 days and the markets went crazy, spiking way into positive territory until the White House called it fake news. If that doesn’t prove what the markets are telling Trump and his minions I don’t know what will. But they just don’t care. Trump is committed to his Tariff Holy Grail and I don’t expect that he’s going to change his mind any day soon.