CANADA/EU/MEXICO/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision Thursday [5-31-18] to slap steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union capped a whipsaw week that reflected not just the deep divisions among his top economic advisers, but the changeable attitudes of the irascible and unpredictable president himself. Senior administration officials profess privately to not knowing exactly what Trump will ultimately decide to do on trade at any given moment. The uncertainty has led the president’s advisers to compete for his attention in a bid to sway him, leading to nasty behind-the-scenes fights that are increasingly bursting into public view. The week began with a statement that the administration would move ahead with trade levies on China, just days after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a trade war with the world’s second-largest economy was ‘on hold.’ Trump’s senior trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly rebuked Mnuchin’s statement on Wednesday, calling it an ‘unfortunate sound bite.’ One senior administration official said privately this week that Navarro’s public scolding of the Treasury secretary was a ‘firing-level offense’ but held out no hope that Trump would take any action.”
-Ben White, Andrew Restuccia and Nancy Cook, “War inside Trump trade team triggers global angst,” Politico, May 31, 2018 5:09 pm