Donald Trump’s trade war was ill-advised from the start. Experts virtually all agreed it would do America more harm than good. All the way back in the days immediately after Trump was elected, this is what NBC News had to say about his trade war plans:
"If the U.S. levels punitive tariffs on Chinese goods then, in a worst-case scenario, China can retaliate by leveling similar tariff on U.S. goods," explained Victor Gao, a Chinese international affairs expert who worked as a translator for late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. "That will create a vicious cycle and everyone will be a loser."
Many American giants such as Apple, GM and Ford rely on China both for the manufacture of goods at low prices and as a huge consumer market.
The likely outcome of disrupting this symbiosis? Higher prices hitting the wallets of blue-collar Americans.
Elsewhere in that article, NBC News specifically mentioned the soybean market, which is one of many segments of our agricultural industries being hit the hardest by Trump’s trade war. Listen to Iowa farmers explain why they’ve had enough.
If the farmers are feeling the pain now, they need to buckle up even more because this week Morgan Stanley warned the Trump-led trade war is leading the global economy into recession. From Newsweek:
The warning comes shortly after the bank's chief U.S. equity strategist warned of an American recession if Trump put tariffs on additional Chinese imports. Last week, Michael Wilson said that increased tariffs on Chinese goods would detrimentally affect companies.
"We are unconvinced that companies will generally be able to fully offset tariff costs through raising prices or through cost efficiencies elsewhere, meaning tariffs will press on margin," Wilson said, according to CNBC.
He said that if Trump followed through on his threat to levy 25 percent tariffs on remaining Chinese imports, "we are inclined to think this has the potential to tip the U.S. economy into recession, given the cost issues companies are already dealing with."
Donald Trump came into office and immediately began reversing all of President Obama’s progress—from environmental regulations to equality and now, the strong economy he inherited as well. It’s just a shame these Iowa farmers couldn’t identify how unqualified Donald Trump was to lead the largest economy in the world, he’s doing to the same thing he’s always done—squander his inheritance.