YORKTON - It is highly likely, that while wishing it was otherwise, ag writers will be focused on the yo-yo politics which is the norm from U.S. president Donald Trump.
The man is fickle at best, and perhaps totally clueless in terms of world trade realities, but either way he is disruptive to trade and dangerous to world stability.
At present he comes off as a blustering bully, who slaps tariffs on willy nilly assuming the US is bulletproof, or more likely not caring what damage he might cause.
When other countries don’t simply capitulate by bending to his will and respond with tariffs of their own, Trump reacts like a petulant child having temper tantrums with blistering verbal condemnations at the audacity of fighting back, and threatening more ridiculous tariffs. Then, often within hours he seems to soften his stance leaving his threats hanging.
The question is really what Americans think.
Sure there are the die-hard Trump supporters – to those he can do no wrong – but surely there are common sense Americans who may have been on side in the election who now are questioning the turmoil he has created in mere weeks.
A recent producer.com article suggested American farmers are assuming Trump will pay them for any losses his trade wars cause.
That seems a dangerous position given Trump has thrown numerous government employees out, and threatened others.
And the Trump led crackdown on ‘illegal’ immigrant workers – blaming the workers and not those hiring them – hits many farm workers hard.
It’s difficult to see Trump suddenly care about anybody who isn’t an oligarch-buddy.
But what about the rich American business owner?
While longer term – five years to a decade likely – the American system might respond to back-fill the economic shortfalls Trump imposed tariffs and Trump-inspired counter tariff measures hit.
But where does steel and aluminum – as an example – come from to allow for much American manufacturing and construction without having to deal with huge tariff costs?
Is big business in the US to the point of counselling more reasonable members of Republican Party that a more reasonable –less unruly child-like – approach is needed to trade?
It will be difficult to make America great again if the presidential moves bankrupt multiple businesses and thrust many Americans onto unemployment lines as a result – although one has the impression much of what Trump does is designed to do just that, leaving the mega rich to buy up everything from farmland to ruined manufacturers for pennies on the dollar.
In the process of whatever Trump is doing – maybe no more than placating his own easily damaged ego – the rest of the world is awash with the ripples of his ever changing mind.
It is obviously time for a new world vision, one where it’s most everyone versus the US and Trump’s buddy Vladimir Putin in Russia in terms of supporting each other with reasonable trade deals.
