There's new bad economic news out this week: U.S. manufacturing saw yet another contraction in September—the worst month in over a decade, in fact. And the Institute for Supply Management, which put out the index in question, is squarely blaming "global trade" issues for the loss. Translation: Donald J. Trump's trade wars.
The Washington Post notes that the most "alarming" development is that manufacturing employment also dropped, "an indication that manufacturers are so worried they are laying off employees." That tends to deflate other predictions of an imminent manufacturing turnaround; manufacturers themselves appear to be downsizing in preparation for more bleak months ahead.
This is, again, a predictable outcome of Trump's tariff wars. Retaliation from trading partners slashes our own exports; the retaliated-against sectors of the market suffer, and contract; people lose their jobs; the jackass who started it all as an "easy to win" way to prove his toughness looks around, confused and angry, for someone else to blame.
Yes, yes. It is opposition to Dear Leader and his plans for Greatness that is fouling things. As it always is, every time, for every unpleasant new number.
It's looking very likely that Trump will be running for reelection—assuming he is still in office at the time, which may be a stretch—in the middle of a deep manufacturing recession and amid pictures of yet another round of closed factories and newly stung small towns. And the trade wars will continue: after a new World Trade Organization win, new U.S. tariffs on European Union aircraft (10%) and agricultural products (a whopping 25%) are imminent.