Trade Tariffs: Steel and Aluminum

Big news, certainly getting a lot of coverage and some negative commentary. I believe Trump is doing this in a misguided attempt to solidify his coalition of voters. He wants to try and get voters in Rust Belt states to stay loyal.

I think his way of going about doing this is wrong headed, but I can see some logic to it. As I've said elsewhere:

 I'm not disputing that. I just think he holds those views for political reasons, not economic.

Admittedly, that's a somewhat tricky claim to prove, a claim about someone's motivation. And in the end, I'm not sure motivation matters overly much. He has his reason for doing this. I think his reasoning is bad, but I think it's legitimate. He is trying to keep his Trump Republicans on board. He thinks this might do the trick. 

I can understand why he might think that. And I sympathize.

I think the tricky part is how the EU will respond. To put it bluntly, the EU is quite peeved at the Brexit situation. They are in a fighting mood, and they might relish the chance of taking a swing at Trump. I'm not sure the European Commission has the power to impose retaliatory tariffs or if they must consult member states. My suspicion is they have powers to impose tariffs without consultation. Something I will certainly look into.

You needn't, however take my word for it. The Spectator has been providing some excellent coverage of Brexit negotiations. The ball is now in Europe's court. We'll soon find out if we have a trade war on our hands.