FOREIGN POLICY/TARIFFS/TRADE WAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump’s tariffs were initially seen as a cudgel to force other countries to drop their trade barriers. But they increasingly look like a more permanent tool to shelter American industry, block imports and banish an undesirable trade deficit. More than two years into the Trump administration, the United States has emerged as a nation with the highest tariff rate among developed countries, outranking Canada, Germany and France, as well as China, Russia and Turkey. And with further trade confrontations brewing, the rate may only increase from here. On Tuesday [5-14-19], the president continued to praise his trade war with China, saying that the 25 percent tariffs he imposed on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods would benefit the United States, and that he was looking ‘very strongly’ at imposing additional levies on nearly every Chinese import…Additional tariffs could be on the way. Mr. Trump faces a Friday deadline to determine whether the United States will proceed with his threat to impose global auto tariffs, a move that has been criticized by car companies and foreign policymakers.”
–Ana Swanson, “Trump’s Tariffs, Once Seen as Leverage, May Be Here to Stay,” The New York Times online, May 14, 2019