Cal Thomas: Tariff turnabouts

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. The White House announced yesterday a 90-day pause on most of the recent tariffs, though the trade war with China continues. Here’s WORLD commentator Cal Thomas.

CAL THOMAS, COMMENTATOR: Guess who said this: “China takes total advantage of the United States. They steal our intellectual property using cyber theft. Not only do they steal our intellectual property, they keep our good companies out, and say the only way you’re going to be able to sell your American products in China … is if you come to China, make them there, and give us the techniques and intellectual property.”

Was that Elon Musk? Nope. President Trump? Wrong again. That was then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a 2018 radio interview. On another occasion that same year, the democrat from New York said the US needed to get “tough with China.” Adding that he was much closer to President Trump on this than he had been with Republican President Bush and Democrat President Obama. In Schumer’s words: “they let China get away with everything.”

Speaking of former president Barack Obama, he said this in 2018 while in Johannesburg, South Africa:

OBAMA: It’s also proper for advanced economies like the United States to insist on reciprocity from nations like China.

More than twenty years earlier, Democrat representative from California Nancy Pelosi said this about China and it’s Most Favored Nation status in 1996:

PELOSI: In terms of tariffs, I think it’s interesting to note that the average MFN tariff on Chinese goods coming into the United States is two percent. Whereas the average Chinese MFN tariff on US goods going into China is 35%. Is that reciprocal?

What changed and caused many Democrats who previously favored tariffs to now excoriate Trump over the tariff policies they once supported? Why, politics, of course. Politicians can change positions faster than they can change lanes. The efficacy of tariffs can—and should—be debated, but we need to remember that both sides of the aisle have threatened to use them.

On Wednesday the president announced a 90-day “pause” in his implementation of tariffs. China was the lone exception as the trade war with that communist country continues.

The stock market reacted swiftly. The Dow Jones Industrial Averages immediately jumped by 2500 points. NASDAQ rose ten percent. The Dow is still two thousand points under where it was when Trump first announced his tariff regime, but the market’s quick response should calm especially retirees with modest investments in their 401k accounts.

Some financial analysts believe Trump has the upper hand with China as that country’s economy is anything but strong. China’s leaders don’t want to lose face with the U.S. and if President Xi Jinping mishandles this war his leadership could be threatened.

President Trump might consider a nationally televised address in which he would explain in simple terms his goals and how all of this will play out.

So far all this razzle-dazzle hasn’t resulted in any foreign nations – especially members of the European Union – reducing or dropping their tariffs against U.S. products. They appear to be waiting and seeing what develops. They are not alone.

I’m Cal Thomas.

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