Trumponomics What Is Trump's Endgame With Tariffs?
20 snips
Feb 5, 2025 
Anna Wong, Chief U.S. economist at Bloomberg Economics with ties to the Trump White House, and Sean Donnan, a senior Bloomberg writer focusing on global economics, dive deep into Trump's tariff strategies. They discuss the potential motives behind Trump's trade war tactics and the intricate dynamics with China, Canada, and Mexico. The impact of tariffs on manufacturing and investment is scrutinized, alongside insights into the internal conflicts within the administration affecting their trade policies. It's a compelling exploration of economic unpredictability.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Conflicting Tariff Goals
- Trump's tariff strategy has three potentially conflicting goals: leverage, trade rebalancing, and revenue generation.
- These colliding goals create uncertainty, which negatively impacts business investment and economic growth.
Trade War as Prisoner's Dilemma
- Trump's trade war strategy resembles game theory's prisoner's dilemma.
- He aims to move away from cooperative equilibria (like the WTO) towards non-cooperative ones where unilateral tariffs benefit the U.S.
Tariff Threats as Posturing
- Trump's threat of 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, later withdrawn, might have been performative.
- He may use such extreme threats to achieve smaller goals, creating uncertainty about his future actions.