Is Donald Trump's tariff blitz killing the American Dream?
Trump has positioned himself to take credit for any gains while scrambling to assign blame when data points disappoint. After Friday's bleak jobs report, he fired the head of the agency responsible for the numbers, claiming without evidence that the figures were politically manipulated. 'The Economy is BOOMING,' Trump posted on Truth Social, contradicting the very data his own government released.The economic fallout of his policies may still be unfolding, but what's becoming increasingly clear is that the promised boom is proving elusive. US ECONOMY IS NOT 'BOOMING'Economists are beginning to detect early warning signs. Growth has slowed to an annualised 1.8% in Q2, far below the 3–4% Trump promised. Inflation is rising again, with core CPI up 3.6% year-on-year. Job creation has dropped below expectations for the second straight month. Real wages are stagnating.And yet, Trump's rhetoric remains unchanged. He's banking on delayed benefits: that tariffs will protect American jobs, that interest rate cuts will fuel a housing revival, and that deregulation will eventually drive corporate investment.But for many Americans already reeling from higher prices and fewer job openings, that promised future feels increasingly out of reach.TARIFF CHAOS TO HURT US CONSUMERSTrump's most audacious bet—sweeping tariffs on nearly all foreign goods—is now colliding with reality. The tariffs, which began taking effect this month, are structured to escalate further in early 2026.The White House has argued that its recent wave of trade deals—from the EU and Japan to the Philippines—will cushion the blow. But for the average American consumer, tariffs function as a tax. Importers raise prices to cover the duties, which trickle down into grocery bills, construction materials, appliances, and cars.The administration insists these moves are part of a longer-term strategy to reshore manufacturing and reduce trade deficits. advertisementBut that narrative is faltering.Manufacturing output fell 0.4% in June. The US trade deficit widened in July to $71.2 billion. And consumer sentiment, according to the University of Michigan survey, has slipped to its lowest level in 18 months.TRUMP SUPPORTERS DEFEND TARIFFSDespite mounting evidence of economic turbulence, Trump's supporters continue to defend the tariffs, arguing that the full impact will take time to materialise. Some Republican strategists believe the short-term pain is a necessary price for long-term gain.'Considering how early we are in his term, Trump's had an unusually big impact on the economy already,' Alex Conant of Firehouse Strategies told The Associated Pr. 'The full inflationary impact of the tariffs won't be felt until 2026. Unfortunately for Republicans, that's also an election year.'Even so, public approval of Trump's economic stewardship is slipping. Just 38% of adults support his handling of the economy, according to a July AP-NORC poll, down from 50% at the end of his first term.Trump's latest move—blaming the Federal Reserve for not cutting interest rates fast enough—has unnerved investors. Rate cuts may marginally ease mortgage rates, but economists warn they could also re-ignite inflation. It's a risky wager that may undermine confidence in the Fed's independence.advertisementGLOBAL SPILLOVERTrump's tariff blitz isn't just straining American households, it's also hurting global trade flows. On August 1, the US formally sanctioned six Indian firms for allegedly buying Iranian petrochemicals, citing violations of Trump's tightened export regime. The sanctions sent shockwaves through India's petrochemical sector, with several companies now facing blocked access to US markets.The impact isn't limited to India. European automakers are bracing for higher input costs. Southeast Asian textile exporters are seeing orders rerouted. And China, already caught in a trade war redux, has hinted at retaliatory tariffs of its own. The idea that Trump's trade strategy would isolate China while strengthening US alliances has so far proven inaccurate. And now, it seems that the US is now entangled in disputes on multiple fronts.Even then, Trump's allies insist that it's too soon to judge the results. 'President Trump is implementing the very same policy mix of deregulation, fairer trade, and pro-growth tax cuts at an even bigger scale – as these policies take effect, the best is yet to come,' said White House spokesman Kush Desai.But that optimism is increasingly at odds with reality on the ground. For many Americans, the promised economic revival feels more like a slow bleed. Higher prices, a jittery job market, and falling real incomes are beginning to bite.If this is Trump's golden age, it's starting to look like fool's gold. So far, 'making America great again' seems to be coming with a price tag Americans weren't told about.- EndsTune InTrending Reel
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
10 minutes ago
- Time of India
‘End War Or Else…': Trump Sends Special Envoy To Russia, Threatens Putin With Nuclear Subs, Tariff
/ Aug 04, 2025, 11:32AM IST US President Donald Trump has confirmed that his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, will visit Russia this week to push for a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Trump warned of 'very severe tariffs' against Russia if it refuses to strike a deal. He also revealed that two US nuclear submarines have been deployed to the region, though details remain classified. The announcement follows a deadly Russian drone strike in Kyiv that killed 31 civilians, part of a record wave of 6,297 drone attacks in July. Ukraine, in turn, has launched its own deadly strikes inside Russia. Witkoff, a close ally of Trump and real estate tycoon, has already met with Putin and also serves as Trump's envoy in Israel-Hamas peace efforts.#PresidentTrump #TrumpRussiaTalks #UkraineCrisis #WitkoffMission #KyivStrike #NuclearThreat#CeasefireNow #TrumpVsPutin #USSubmarines #UkraineWar #BreakingNews #TrumpAdministration
The Hindu
10 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Takeaways for India from Trump moment: strategic autonomy is alive, neoliberalism is dead
Donald J. Trump can be brutally forthright and publicly so. It is partly innate and partly a strategy to throw his interlocutors off balance. In a 1989 interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Mr. Trump was asked by the host about his strategies for gaining an edge in negotiations. Mr. Trump responded not with a direct answer, but with a startling personal comment: 'Can I move my chair? Because your breath is very bad. It really is... Has this ever been told to you before?' Years later, Mr. Trump explained that it was a demonstration of his negotiation tactics. Mr. Trump's outspokenness can be unsettling, but it can also be helpful. There are a few valuable lessons that Indian strategy could learn, thanks to the manner in which Mr. Trump conducts U.S. diplomacy. Donald Trump's worldview Key elements of his worldview have largely remained consistent for decades. Even before he made an entry into politics, Mr. Trump was anti-trade, anti-war, cognizant of the economic and social challenges within the American society, and believed that all other countries were taking advantage of the U.S. He is trying to turn all those beliefs into policies with varying levels of success. However, what is remarkable is his ongoing exposition of American policy, which is too candid to be comforting for partners abroad. For his critics at home, it is what he says rather than what he does that is infuriating. All countries are scurrying to reposition themselves. It is a moment of reckoning for India. Editorial | Soured relations: On Trump's 25% tariff, 'penalty' The idea that India's hesitation to go into a complete strategic lock-in with the U.S. and to completely open its market is hindering progress in bilateral ties is commonplace because its proponents are influential. India, whether under Jawaharlal Nehru or Narendra Modi, has been reluctant to do either of these, and strategic autonomy has held the country in good stead. For one, alliances are not insulated from shifts in U.S. priorities over time, Trump or not. To cite one example, when Joe Biden was President, Australia scrapped a $90 billion deal with France to build conventional diesel-electric submarines. Instead, it entered the AUKUS pact with the U.S. and the U.K. to acquire nuclear-powered submarines using the U.S. technology. All within the family, but hanging France out to dry. Mr. Trump, who is often portrayed as hostile to U.S. allies, is saying it all too loud. India's choice Amid Mr. Trump's rhetoric, India could be further incentivised to reinforce the idea of strategic autonomy, which remains the most viable framework for sustaining a robust relationship with the U.S. The Modi government has, in practice, followed the path of strategic autonomy. Both strategic autonomy and strategic subservience carry costs. India appears increasingly prepared to bear the cost of autonomy — rather than of subservience. Turning into a frontline of any U.S. strategy for containment of another country or expansion of its own interest can be fatal — ask Ukraine. Mr. Trump has done India a favour by silencing the call for abandoning strategic autonomy. If there was any doubt about strategic autonomy, the Trump moment has clarified it. Mr. Trump wants to restore manufacturing and jobs in the U.S. and has, in the process, unsettled global trade. Access to its market has been a lever of American power for long, and Mr. Trump is just blunt about it. A trade deal may resolve some immediate issues, but India cannot ignore the reality that in a world where every country has turned protectionist, export-driven growth is a narrow and difficult path. Mr. Trump has made it amply clear that he does not want China being replaced by any country in U.S. supply chains. It will be foolhardy to assume that any future U.S. President will be fine with that either. It is as if no country wants to import anything other than plastic toys and T-shirts. India could pay more attention to leveraging its domestic market to build its economy and manufacturing. Considering the rapid automation and the consequent limits of job growth in manufacturing, 'making for the world' is not sustainable for India, economist Raghuram Rajan has pointed out. Mr. Modi on Sunday exhorted Indians to augment domestic consumption. A domestic market-driven development model needs to be articulated strongly. The priority and the emphasis need to shift. Ties with the U.S. The Trump moment tells India two things — strategic autonomy is alive; and neoliberalism is dead. India has to navigate the path ahead, and the U.S. remains a key partner in that. It is reasonable to assume that the U.S. will remain the most powerful state on the planet for several decades to come. Relations with the U.S. will continue to be a major determinant of India's capacity to realise its ambitions and make progress. Getting this one relationship right will be critical for India. Neither obsequiousness nor confrontation can advance India's relations with the U.S. India should also learn that soft power is supposed to be soft, not loud and screeching. As the yoga teacher would say, pranayama practice should not make any sound.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
10 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Trump tariffs jolt Malaysia, disrupting solar exports, China trade ties
By Alexandra Stevenson and Zunaira Saieed It's become a familiar strategy in Southeast Asia. Companies from China, coveting the American market but blocked by tariffs, do an end run. They pour into a country, opening factories and filling supply chains. They invest billions of dollars and create jobs and business opportunities. The local economy prospers. President Trump wants to stop that trade. On Friday he unveiled a new layer of tariffs — set at a global rate of 40 percent — on all goods that move through a third country before they get to the United States. The tariffs are aimed at stopping transshipment, a practice the administration says has allowed Chinese-made goods to skirt punitive tariffs. The policy landed with a thunderbolt in Southeast Asia, where Chinese investment has helped the economies of poorer neighbors grow more quickly. A crackdown on transshipment will be an economic blow. It also complicates the supply chain in Southeast Asia, which depends heavily on Chinese raw materials and components. From Vietnam to Cambodia to Indonesia, officials and executives are rushing to assess the consequences. The new tariffs raise hard questions for countries that have long used Chinese components to make the final products they ship to the United States. Does the Trump administration, which has yet to detail how it would enforce the new transshipment tariffs, want to tax it all? One country offers a case study others could follow for what to do next: Malaysia. Over the last decade, Malaysia rose to become one of the world's biggest makers of solar panels. Ten companies, most of them Chinese, shoveled $15 billion into factories around the country, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Then, under President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the United States put tariffs on solar equipment coming from Malaysia of as much as 250 percent. Today, just two solar panel makers remain and one of them has ceased much of its production. The upheaval has been a wake-up call for Malaysia, a nation of over 35 million people that is rethinking how to power its future economic growth. 'We're trying to think about ourselves not just as recipients of investment, but actually creators of technology,' said Liew Chin Tong, the deputy minister of investment, trade and industry. 'We want to think of ourselves not as a production site, but also as a consumer site with a sizable middle class.' Officials in Malaysia, who had been trying to work out a trade deal, had said they were ready to work with the Trump administration to stop companies from passing off Chinese-made goods as their own. But they learned on Friday they would be hit with a base tariff of 19 percent. An additional 40 percent would be added for any goods deemed to have originated in China. Those are set to take effect this week. The country finds itself caught squarely between the United States and China. Malaysia believes that Chinese solar companies can play an important role in its attempts to increase renewable power sources. Its goal over the next five years is for half the country's energy consumption to use clean sources like solar power. Warehouses are stuffed with solar equipment that can no longer be exported to the United States, and the government wants companies to sell it to local solar farms. One challenge for Malaysia is that it still needs China's solar industry on its side. More than 75 percent of the solar panels that Malaysia uses locally are imported from China, where prices are much cheaper because of Beijing's industrial policies that encourage exports. Longer term, Malaysia wants the Chinese companies to restart their mothballed factories to make solar panels for the domestic market. More than any other region, Southeast Asia has felt the brunt of the trade war between the United States and China that began in earnest during Mr. Trump's first presidency. Southeast Asian countries profited as Chinese and global multinationals relocated their factories out of China to avoid Mr. Trump's first-term tariffs. For Malaysia, the aim now is to blunt the collateral damage from the battle between the world's two largest economies. 'I don't like to see us just having to choose between US and China,' said Mr. Liew, adding 'I want to see us strengthening ourselves.' Both superpowers have loomed large in Malaysia. The American tech companies Nvidia, Intel and Texas Instruments built huge facilities to make semiconductors, seeing the country as a good location to hedge against the risks of doing business in China. More than 600 American companies invested in Malaysia last year, said Siobhan Das, chief executive of the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce. Chinese investment, meanwhile, has shaped Malaysia's manufacturing sector, and China has ranked as one of the top investors in the country for the last decade. Malaysia's imports from China have nearly doubled over the past decade, according to Lee Heng Guie, executive director of the Socio-Economic Research Center, a Malaysian think tank. It was also about a decade ago when Chinese solar companies began to invest in factories in Malaysia. The factories made everything for export to the United States and other major markets like Europe. 'We knew we could not compete with the Chinese companies in the long run,' said Lisa Ong, chief executive at Malaysian Solar Resources, a solar company that shut its panel production facilities in 2013. After six years, the company found it was being outperformed on price and production capacity. Today it has switched its focus to building solar farms and importing panels from China. After the Biden administration initiated an investigation into unfair practices by Chinese solar companies in Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, Chinese companies began to slow some of their operations. The investigation led to steep tariffs on a handful of Chinese solar companies operating in these countries, and prompted most of them to abandon their factories in Malaysia. The only Chinese company still making some solar panels in Malaysia is Longi, an industry giant. When it opened its third Malaysian factory on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in 2023, it heralded the opening as a 'pivotal moment in Longi's global endeavors.' Its executives boasted of creating 900 jobs and promised to increase the openings to 2,000. Instead of expanding, Longi has shut down several production lines at the facility. Today, much of the space at Longi's plant is unused. On one weekday last month, the parking lot was less than half full. Longi declined to comment for this article. Longi has met with Malaysian officials to discuss how to support more of the local supply chain, according to Justin Sim, the president of the Malaysian Photovoltaic and Sustainable Energy Industry Association. He is pressing the government to rebuild a domestic solar panel industry by harnessing the knowledge of Chinese companies like Longi. 'All the Chinese companies came here when there was not really any capacity or interest in building the local market,' Mr. Sim said. 'And then they all went bust or left because they were hit with tariffs from the US and Europe.' Ms. Ong of Malaysian Solar Resources said she would not rule out her company going back to solar panel manufacturing, especially after the Chinese government announced plans to scale back subsidies to companies. Still, she is hesitant, citing the intense competitiveness of Chinese firms. 'I'm worried and a bit concerned about our future,' she said. 'Many Chinese nationals are migrating to Malaysia and they are a lot more industrious than many of us.'
