Trump’s smoke and mirrors
Donald Trump’s principal purpose in issuing any pronouncement is to gain attention. Unfortunately, much of the US media seem uninterested in helping the public separate signal from noise
“IT’S almost like they knew Trump was bluffing.” That is how Bloomberg columnist John Authers described Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the US president after he unjustifiably threatened their countries with 25 per cent tariffs.
The tariffs were postponed just before they were supposed to take effect. The reason, according to Kelly Ann Shaw, a former adviser to Donald Trump, was that America’s neighbours “came to the table... with commitments that sufficiently addressed the president’s concerns”.
But, what did Sheinbaum and Trudeau offer? As far as I can tell, they committed to things that they had already committed to, albeit with some additional symbolic gestures – like a new Canadian “fentanyl czar” – thrown in.
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