(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Trump's Tariff Dilemma [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-06-07

Trump has once again stumbled into a trap of his own making and, once again, Democrats are failing to make the most of it. Trump’s dilemma with tariffs is this: if he makes the tariffs large enough to bring manufacturing back to the US, the tariffs will cause a recession, but if he doesn’t make the tariffs large enough, they won’t bring any jobs back to the US. Trump has effectively positioned himself over a trap by passing out tariffs like candy at Halloween: we should help him trigger that trap.

Democrats on the Hill, or at least those serving in conservative districts, should say they 100% support bringing back jobs and say that they don’t understand why Trump is unilaterally reducing the tariffs or postponing them. They should ask, “Doesn’t Trump want to bring back manufacturing? Why is he postponing them? Trump isn’t a coward, is he? How can Trump bring jobs back from overseas if he won’’t even stand up for his own tariffs? Why is Trump afraid to do what he says we need to do to bring back jobs? What is he afraid of?”

Legislators in more moderate districts can also play a role, putting on their best sincere faces and saying how much they support bringing back jobs but they’re just “oh so concerned” about ONLY using tariffs to accomplish these goals when there are so many other ways to accomplish the same goals, such as tax credits for companies that on-shore jobs, changing accounting rules so that expenses incurred in foreign countries are no longer deductible, reducing corporate tax deductions for every mile a product travels to reach US stores, etc. And then look into the camera, shrug, and then say how they’re ready to reach across the aisle to help craft legislation that will support the goal of bringing home manufacturing jobs.

Sadly, the immediate answer to tariff-insanity is an economic recession. And the easiest way to start recession is to try to force Trump to enforce his Big Beautiful Tariffs. Once the price increases really kick in and the shelves start to empty, a lot of his support will evaporate. When the kitchen table discussions turn to how are they going to put food on their tables and put presents under the Christmas tree, people will vote out any legislator who supports him and his tariffs.

We have about 18 months until the next round of elections, we need to make the most of them. We need to help Trump to jump into his own tariff trap and not let him escape. We need to do whatever we can to make take the blame for his tariffs and not blame anyone else. A bad economy got Joe kicked out; a bad economy will boot his cowardly Republican enablers out of office and neutralize the final 2 years of his presidency.

The US economy will have a bad year or so, but the US economy is resilient and can easily rebound from a Trump-induced recession, especially when the previous tariffs are reinstated and Wall St believes that tariff instability is over.

No one wants to suffer through a recession. On the other hand, if we don’t force him into his tariff trap, the economy and our society will just fumble along, adjusting and adapting to whims of a madman. Worse, we will be forced to endure the hate-filled ranting of the next autocrat-in-training for the foreseeable future.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/7/2326339/-Trump-s-Tariff-Dilemma?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/