Trump is relying on 100% his “gut” to wage his trade war
by digby
President Trump is increasingly acting based on his own intuition and analysis and not the advice of aides in the increasingly fraught trade war with China, five people briefed on the actions said, shattering a more cautious process that had yielded few positive results so far.
The Treasury Department’s formal announcement that it had labeled China a “currency manipulator” came six hours after President Trump did it himself, on social media, the latest example of how Trump is determining his own next steps. The people describing the White House process spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
They said White House officials were now expecting a long, drawn-out battle with Chinese leaders, even though Trump is acutely tuned in to stock market fluctuations. But Trump is convinced that the Chinese economy is suffering more than the U.S. economy from the conflict. And he has felt validated that his hardball threats in other circumstances, including a recent tangle with Mexico over border security, seemed to get at least some results, even if they scared investors in the short term, said the people familiar with the matter.
This has left aides, many of whom have preferred for the president to be more patient, to scramble to complete directives issued by Trump. Stocks have been plunging as Trump and China have escalated the trade conflict.
U.S. Treasury labels China ‘currency manipulator’ as trade war escalates
Global stocks extended already substantial losses on Aug. 5, after Washington tagged China a “currency manipulator,” shaking fragile investor sentiment in a rap (Reuters)
The practical implications of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s move to label China a “currency manipulator” were limited. It begins a process of discussions between himself and the International Monetary Fund about ways to address China’s behavior. But it represented the most concrete Trump administration broadside in a day that had previously been marked by twin attacks from Beijing.
First, China’s currency weakened against the U.S. dollar, something White House officials suspected was directed by the government. And second, Chinese officials sent signals that they would not be ramping up purchases of U.S. agriculture products, as Trump had long promised they would.
Both steps made clear that Chinese leaders did not plan to make quick concessions to the White House following Trump’s surprise announcement last week that he would be imposing a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion in imports from China, something that even several of his advisers had warned against.
With the world’s two largest economies in an escalating trade battle, global stock markets have fallen sharply in the past three trading sessions, erasing trillions of dollars in value and damaging one of Trump’s favorite barometer’s of his presidency’s success.
Here’s one of his top adviser’s analysis:
“We’re learning that maybe China has a higher pain threshold than we thought here,” said Stephen Moore, who was an economic adviser to Trump during the 2016 election and remains close to the White House. “They don’t seem to care that this is having extreme negative effects on their economy. It’s kind of a mutually assured destruction game right now.”
Honestly, you could drag some drunk guy out of a bar in downtown DC, put him in the oval office and his “gut” would probably be more astute than Trump and his cronies.
Or maybe just have a magic 8 Ball instead of a president.
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