To tariff or not to tariff, that is the question for Trump, who, like Hamlet, can vacillate with the best of ‘em

Oh, the slings and arrows of outrageous political fortune. Trump has turned himself into a tragic hero. His self-created dilemma comes down to this: Whether ‘tis nobler to satisfy the promises made during the campaign and suffer the condemnation of an infuriated stock market or forget the whole thing and start moving forward with some sensible trade policy.  

Trump’s oft-repeated infatuation with tariffs – he once said “tariffs are the most beautiful word in the dictionary” — was a driving force during his campaign for the presidency, so it’s no surprise that he came out swinging on the trade front with some audacious tariff announcements just weeks after his inauguration.

The fact that probably every economist who isn’t on Trump’s payroll thinks tarrifs stink hasn’t deterred our president. Nobel prizewinner Joseph Stiglitz, an economics prof at Columbia University concurs that tariffs are uniformly despised among economists, saying, “virtually all economists think that the impact of the tariffs will be very bad for America and for the world … they will almost surely be inflationary.”

True to his megalomaniacal nature, Trump has ignored the cautionary consensus among those who actually know something about the subject and started imposing tariffs in sweeping announcements that have rattled the markets and created streams of protest from those who are most directly affected by them. That would include critical statements from the business community and the harsh judgement of the stock markets, which are now lower than they were when Trump was elected.

It’s hard to believe that all this caught the president by surprise, but considering his reaction, it’s pretty clear that Trump has a tin ear when it comes to gauging the public’s judgements on his tariff policy, which has been erratic and baffling.

And this is where he has Hamletized his actions, or, more accurately, his inactions.

As I write this, Trump is rapidly backing off his aggressively announced tariff intentions, at least on those that were imposed on Canada and Mexico. This makes the second time that Trump has blinked during tariff showdowns and signals that our vacillating president is irresolute and uncertain about his intent, a natural follow-up to a pattern of decision-making with little regard for consequences. 

Making a public display of his insecurity on a matter as important as trade policy should be unsettling to Trump’s supporters and unsurprising to his critics. The larger question is whether or not this is a trait that will carry over to his many, many other decision-making challenges.  

John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.

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