Donald Trump Is Talking Himself Into a Global Trade War on Twitter

Meanwhile, his economic advisors don’t know what’s going on.

This is Donald Trump's most likely response to an active shooter nearby: "Gunfire? No, I don't hear any gunfire."Jeff Malet/Newscom via ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

While officials inside the White House are still shocked at Donald Trump’s sudden public pivot toward trade wars with China and the European Union, the president isn’t letting up. Instead, he’s digging in, taking to Twitter to once again make threats directed at the EU.

“Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years,” Trump tweeted early Saturday afternoon. “They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!”

He then threatened to increase taxes on European exports into the United States:

Saturday’s latest mini-tweetstorm comes a day after the president issued a series of similarly disconcerting messages, writing in part that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

Meanwhile, officials inside of the Treasury Department are scrambling to contain the fallout from Trump’s tweets, which in addition to being wrong, have also frightened investors and outraged US allies across the globe. One senior member of the president’s economic advisory team told Politico, “I don’t understand what we announced, I don’t know what the policy is.”

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate