Wall Street Journal (August 26)
“Canada plans to impose tariffs of up to 50% on roughly 700 American products in retaliation for new U.S. levies,” a move which is likely to further escalate “tensions between two of the world’s most closely integrated economies.” Canada’s tariffs will be enforced from “Sept. 8, affecting about $20 billion worth of goods, or roughly 7% of total U.S. imports.” Canada designed the tariffs “to protect domestic companies hit by a fresh set of hefty U.S. tariffs and to sting President Trump and his Republican Party as they head into a difficult midterm election.”
Tags: $20 billion, 50, Canada, Economies, Enforced, Escalate, Goods, Imports, Levies, Protect, Republican, Retaliation, Sept. 8, Sting, Tariffs, Tensions, Trump, U.S.
The Atlantic (August 22)
“Yes, Trump can hurt Canada more than Canada can hurt Trump. That part of Trump’s thinking is true. But wars are not decided only by the question Who can inflict more pain? Wars are also decided by the question Who can endure more pain? Trump’s failure to accept this truth is why he lost the Iran war—and why he is losing his trade wars.”
Tags: Canada, Endure, Failure, Hurt, Inflict, Iran war, Lost, Pain, Thinking, Trade wars, True, Trump, Truth, Wars
Wall Street Journal (August 20)
Donald Trump’s “attitude of constant haggling over everything that isn’t nailed down, and some things that were supposed to be, isn’t helpful. Mr. Trump has put into doubt the future of his own U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Someone should tell him the biggest beneficiaries of free North American trade are Republican states, especially Texas.”
Tags: Agreement, Attitude, Beneficiaries, Canada, Doubt, Free trade, Future, Haggling, Mexico, North America, Republican states, Texas, Trump, U.S.
The New York Times (August 8)
“President Trump’s war against Iran has depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles to troubling levels, siphoning supplies from Asia and Europe…. The rapidly shrinking supply of air-defense missiles and other critical weaponry in Europe and Asia not only leaves the U.S. military less equipped, but could also leave Russia and China feeling emboldened should they contemplate a potential conflict with the United States.”
Tags: Air-defense missiles, Asia, China, Conflict, Depleted, Emboldened, Europe, Iran, Military, Russia, Shrinking supply, Troubling, Trump, U.S., War, Weapons stockpiles
The Times of London (July 16)
“Even as US vessels launched hundreds of missiles at Iranian military targets in the past few days, Trump still seemed reluctant to unleash the type of all-out war necessary to bring the enemy to heel. As was the case during the initial five weeks of conflict this spring, the president seems rigidly focused on a low-risk, stand-off warfare, minimising the risks of close-up combat.” With the tactics of Trump’s campaign “explicitly designed to avoid high-intensity battle,” his “objectives are rooted more in hope than in strategy.”
Tags: Campaign, Conflict, Cose-up combat, Enemy, High-intensity battle, Hope, Iran, Low-risk, Military targets, Missiles, Objectives, Reluctant, Stand-off, Tactics, Trump, U.S., Vessels, Warfare
Time (July 16)
“Iran’s return to conflict is best read as a calculated gamble…. Above all, Tehran’s leadership fears a staged unwinding of its leverage. Once it stops threatening shipping and restrains its regional partners, those tools become difficult to recover.” While Iran may be “running a familiar playbook of escalating to deescalate” and may have an “accurate reading” of President Donald Trump’s desire “to avoid rising energy prices, American casualties, and another open ended war in the Middle East;” there’s less certainty about how that deescalation will come about. “There is no formal consensus… and no faction willing to move first on anything that could be portrayed as surrendering leverage, legitimizing the bombing campaign, or handing Trump a clear victory.”
Tags: Calculated, Casualties, Certainty, Conflict, Deescalate, Energy prices, Escalating, Fears, Iran, Leadership, Legitimizing, Leverage, Middle East, Recover, Shipping, Threatening, Tools, Trump, War
Bloomberg (July 6)
“Donald Trump’s war against Iran may be over, but the repercussions for global monetary policy are here to stay.” In particular, “the path for central bank interest rates around the world has now shifted higher for years to come.” Forecasts for borrowing costs calculated by Bloomberg Economics (BE) “show trajectories elevated by as much as half a percentage point or more through 2028 compared with those envisaged before the war. That’s both on BE’s global gauge for rates, and its measure for advanced economies.”
Tags: 2028, Bloomberg Economics, Borrowing costs, Central bank, Elevated, Forecasts, Global, Higher, Interest rates, Iran, Monetary policy, Repercussions, Trump, War
Fortune (June 22)
“The U.S. farm economy has been fighting one battle after another in recent years, but a new threat is on the horizon that evokes memories of one of the worst agricultural disasters ever.” U.S. farmers were left reeling from low prices, tariffs and most recently Trump’s Iran War, which sent the prices for fertilizer and fuel soaring. Bankruptcies have been rising and now they may face the existential “risk of a ‘mini-Dust Bowl’ as a rare Super El Niño looms.”
Tags: Agricultural disasters, Bankruptcies, Existential, Farm economy, Farmers, Fertilizer, Fuel, Iran war, Low prices, Mini-Dust Bowl, Reeling, Risk, Super El Niño, Tariffs, Threat, Trump, U.S.
The Times (June 18)
Donald Trump “promised to keep the US out of ‘dumb wars.’” This week he “ended one of America’s shortest wars with a deal that leaves an enemy regime in place in Iran, emboldened by its own survival, entrenched in defiance of the civilised world and even potentially enriched by the promise of boatloads of money to help rebuild its battered economy and war-making infrastructure.”
Tags: Battered economy, Civilised world, Deal, Defiance, Dumb wars, Emboldened, Enemy regime, Enriched, Entrenched, Iran, Money, Promised, Rebuild, Survival, Trump, U.S., War-making infrastructure
The Guardian (June 18)
“A president’s wishful thinking” is giving way to “uncomfortable realities.” This is not an unconditional surrender, vindication or victory. “The memorandum of understanding signed in Versailles lays bare US failure and the pointlessness of this illegal war…. Having squandered billions of dollars, and thousands of lives, Mr Trump is accepting less than was on offer before the conflict.” The impetuous president “bombed first and negotiated later.” As a result, “Tehran has seen its escalatory tactics succeed, while the US has undermined its own credibility.”
Tags: Billions, Bombed first, Conflict, Credibility, Failure, Illegal, Impetuous, Lives, MOU, Negotiated later, Pointlessness, Squandered, Tehran, Trump, U.S., Uncomfortable realities, Unconditional surrender, Undermined, Versailles, Wishful thinking
