COMMENTARY: Trump’s Master Class, by Charles A. Kohlhaas

By Charles A. Kohlhaas, MRC TV, April 16, 2025

The world now awaits Trump Shock III, but it does not quite understand his Liberation Day imposition of tariffs on the world followed by a 90-day pause a week later. This combination is described as Trump killing free trade and then backing down, blinking, climbing down, doing a U-turn, and so on.

I surmise these criticisms are from people who have never negotiated anything. Trump’s reputation is that of a master negotiator. He is demonstrating how he is just that on the world stage. Trump is negotiating multiple issues on a worldwide scale. He is like a man playing a dozen chess games simultaneously.

First, he had the Liberation Day show with the demonstration board displaying tariffs proposed for imports from all other countries. These proposed tariffs were described as “reciprocity tariffs,” but they were not based on the other countries’ tariffs. They were determined by a strange calculation based on the imbalance of trade with that country and a 10% minimum “baseline” tariff. The calculation and the presentation made it clear those proposed tariffs were unreasonable and we know it, but they would be imposed if the subject countries did not show up to negotiate new terms for trade. …

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