Trump went about the effort to re-industrialize America in the wrong way. He announced draconian tariffs, then paused them, and now he’s started carving out exemptions for the tech industry. It’s all become quite a comedy. And I’m betting the trade deficit will continue to soar.
In my mind, Trump would have been better off if he’d picked a handful of industries to work with. And then deeply understood the needs and problems of those industries, and then set about to address those needs and problems in a way that benefited America and those companies. Comprehensive solutions might involve training a workforce that is capable of doing those jobs, changing laws, ending credentialing, ending regulations, maybe imposing tariffs, re-doing trade agreements, figuring out supply chain solutions, etc.
If he’d chosen to get really good at working with a few industries and figuring out what does work, it would have laid out a solid path for the future that other successors, Congresses, and industries could have followed.
Alexander Mercouris is right, Trump is in a hurry to get things done, but in the end, he’s getting very little done.