'The penguins won': Critics roast Trump over latest trade-war reversal
President Donald Trump on Wednesday backed off his plan to slap most of the world with hefty tariffs as the American economy showed signs of significant stress.
Although Trump's move sent markets surging, critics nonetheless ripped the president for causing massive economic uncertainty, especially given that Trump only paused most of his tariffs for 90 days while at the same time ramping up those on China to 125 percent and leaving in place 10 percent across-the-board charges.
Conservative National Review writer Noah Rothman said that Trump's chaotic policy moves showed why Congress must retake control over its constitutional powers to levy tariffs.
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"Congress must act," he argued. "The last two weeks have shown that leaving trade policy in the hands of any president, much less one this mercurial, will still depress on domestic and foreign investment. Rs will breathe a sigh of relief that they are saved from having to act like Article 1, but the new status quo is still intolerable."
Rothman's National Review colleague Charles C.W. Cooke concurred.
"Now would be a good moment for Congress to take back its absolute power over tariffs," he wrote.
Pod Save America host Tommy Veitor slammed Trump supporters for trying to credit for him solving a crisis that he personally created.
"These are the dumbest ... people on the planet," he said. "This idiotic tariff policy tanked the market nearly 20% and now they want to act like Trump blinking and recouping only one third of that loss is some genius move."
Pundit Matthew Yglesias pointed out that the 90-day pause in tariffs would still create massive uncertainty in the American economy.
"Halting the tariffs seems better than going forward with them, but again how on earth are you expecting anyone to invest in any new manufacturing if there’s no telling what policy will be tomorrow?" he wondered.
Johns Hopkins University economist Felipe Campante, who grew up in Brazil, said that Trump's chaotic reign reminded him of how many nations in Latin America used to be governed.
"Nothing has prepared you to live under Trump 2 as much as growing up in 1980s/90s Latin America," he wrote on BlueSky. "It was exactly like that! The sudden announcements changing everything, the overwhelming uncertainty, the sheer vertigo and whiplash. Plus, the sense that democracy is fragile and could collapse..."
Political scientist Brian Klaas, meanwhile, simply joked that "the penguins won," in reference to Trump's decision to levy tariffs against a remote island that is inhabited primarily by penguins.
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