Trading partners respond to Trump Trade War by hitting his strongest supporters

Kentucky bourbon from the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, where 9 out of every 10 bottles of bourbon are manufactured in the US—and will now suffer thanks to Trump.

Popular-vote-loser Donald Trump’s trade war arrives tomorrow, and our trading partners are retaliating. It’s been noted before, but our trading partners are retaliating the smart way—not with wholesale new tariffs across a broad range of industries, but hitting Trump’s strongest supporters directly. Among their targets:

• Tobacco products—North Carolina, Kentucky
• Agricultural products (fruits and vegetables, soy, beef, poultry)—rural, GOP-dominant farm regions
• Frozen orange juice—Florida
• Coal products—Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio
• Natural gas—Dakotas, Texas, etc., heavy GOP industry
• Whiskey—Kentucky

Kentucky gets hit hard, as it’s the home of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In fact, the state’s spirits industry has become a favorite target of pretty much the entire world. House Speaker Paul Ryan’s Wisconsin gets hit agriculturally, while retaliatory tariffs from the European Union and Mexico are adding to the pain hitting the local dairy industry and Harley-Davidson. None of those targets are accidental. 

White, rural, southern voters have hitched their wagon to Trump, and little will sway them. They are too entrenched in their racism, trapped in fake news world, to truly consider the personal economic ramifications of their allegiance. But we can enjoy a certain schadenfreude—and maybe electoral gain—by having people other than marginalized communities and liberals suffer from this regime’s regressive policies.