/479/ El Tarifazo: Trump’s Tariff Thwack ft. Lee Jones

On Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs and the end of globalisation.

[For the full episode, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast]

Contributing editor Lee Jones talks to Alex about the tariffs, as they try to reconstruct the Trump admin's thinking, and consider avenues and consequences.

• Why is this a retro-80s moment, and how much does China take the role that Japan used to in Trump's thinking?

• How much strategy is there to this? Is it possible to disentangle the competing logics?

• Is this a return to the 19th century: small state, no income tax, high tariff walls?

• How credible an attempt at reindustrialising the US is this?

• Is Trump trying to weaken the dollar? What store to put in the Mar-a-Lago accord?

• Do Europeans kick the can down the road and hope for the best?

• Is this a global restructuring or just a reset in terms more favourable to the US? The end of neoliberalism or a new iteration on it?

Links:

• Will anybody buy a ‘Mar-a-Lago accord’?, FT

• A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System, Stephen Miran, Hudson Bay Capital 

• Is Trump 2 the End of ‘Neoliberal Order Breakdown Syndrome’?, Lee Jones, TNS 

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Breaks Down Trump's Tariff Plan and Its Impact on the Middle Class, Tucker Carlson, YouTube

• Back to the ’80s?, Andrew Liu, n+1

• MAGA and the Fragmentation of Europe, Tim Pendry, Substack