Category: Update

News editors sometimes choose odd titles: “First country to cut tariffs down for US and awaits deal — Trump.” That is for a brief Oleh Velhan article from RBC Ukraine. OK: maybe something got lost in translation. But the article follows a theme from this week’s Common Sense commentary and yesterday’s update: Trump’s goofy schedules of tariffs and what to do about them.

Vietnam is ready to completely scrap tariffs for the United States. This may become possible after an agreement between the two countries, according to US leader Donald Trump and his statement via Truth Social.

Trump reported that he had held talks with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, To Lam. According to him, Lam stated that Vietnam is ready to reduce its tariffs to zero.

“Vietnam wants to cut their tariffs down to zero if they are able to make an agreement with the US. I thanked him on behalf of our country, and said that I look forward to a meeting in the near future,” said the US president.

Oleh Velhan, Saturday April 5, 2025.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and other countries are going the proverbial other direction, responding with a “list of 8,000 US products that could be subject to tariffs. This list includes various items, ‘from binoculars to bourbon whiskey.’”

Is that Trump wants? Retaliatory tariffs? That happened under Smoot-Hawley.

That is what economists fear: Like the McKinley Tariff of 1890 (which President Trump has praised), the Smoot-​Hawley tax hike on goods coming into the country (which is what a tariff is, an international trade tax) to a whopping amount — higher than the nearly 50 percent tariff duty level of the 1890 effort. The Smoot-​Hawley hikes have long been known to have factored in the Great Depression, with economist Thomas Rustici (see Lessons of the Great Depression, 2005) arguing that the influence was far more significant than previously thought.

An international war of tariffs, with each nation responding to others’ tariffs with tariffs of their own, is just not good for business. But as wars go, it is an extremely foolish one. A tariff chiefly harms consumers (economists like Milton Friedman tell us) in the national economy of the state that erects them: a tariff war is where each nation shoots itself in the foot, and retaliates for others’ self-​harm by further harming themselves.

This was made clear by Frederic Bastiat, whom no one in power appears to have read.

But there is still the inscrutable Trump. If he likes tariffs so much, why does he want them for America but for no one else? That is the implication — right until he praises To Lam and Javier Milei for responding to his tariffs not as Britain is retaliating, or as the EU prepares to. If Trump is really after free trade, apparently he demands a special form of it: not unilateral but multilateral.

So why not just honestly aim for that?

Because it is not popular?

Still, his current strategy seems a bit like Cleavon Little’s strategy when a town turns guns on him: he points his own gun at his own head. But with Trump’s tariff hike policy, there’s less provocation.

Trump’s momentous tariff schedule, legal only by reason of Congress’s dereliction of duty, came up with a multitude of negative reactions this week — with one exception: Argentina President Javier Milei’s.

Milei’s ratline disclosure was the subject of yesterday’s commentary by Paul Jacob, and Trump’s peculiar ambiguities regarding tariffs was tackled Tuesday. But the big story, now, is Argentine … free trade:

Speaking at an event at Trump’s Mar-​a-​Lago residence and resort in Florida, Milei delivered a brief speech as he received an award for his defence of free markets and conservative values.

Declaring he is ready to work side-​by-​side with the United States and Trump, Milei praised the US president and ruled out retaliatory measures.

“Argentina is going to move forward to readjust the regulations so that we meet the requirements of the reciprocal tariffs proposal developed” by Trump, Milei said, according to remarks briefed by his office.

“We have already met nine of the 16 necessary requirements , and I have instructed my country’s Foreign Ministry and Commerce Secretariat to move forward with the remaining requirements,” he said, speaking a day after Trump slapped 10-​percent tariffs on Argentine goods entering the United States.

“Milei says he will change Argentina’s laws to mitigate Trump’s tariffs,” Buenos Aires Times (April 4, 2025).

Milei’s reaction to Trump’s outrageous “Liberation” tariffs is so far unique. Argentina’s “libertarian” president appears to bend over backwards to get along with the U.S.

In March, Trump said he was open to discussing the possibility of a free-​trade deal with Argentina.

Milei, whom Trump calls a “great leader,” has said he is willing to pull Argentina out of Mercosur regional trade bloc if necessary.

Ibid.

The American president, in defiance of the consensus of political economy, has made much of concern with balance of trade — and Argentina, under Milei’s leadership, sported, this year, a positive balance of trade with the United States for the first time in many moons. So how does one square this circle?

If Milei succeeds, think of it as political alchemy, turning Trump’s leaden protectionism into golden free trade. We still wonder, has this been Trump’s goal all along? Based on his rhetoric, it seems a No; but if Milei’s reaction spreads, maybe then Yes.

After Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, the very American cause of free speech made a comeback. “Elon Musk’s sunlight on Twitter’s backroom censorship dealings,” wrote Paul Jacob on December 22 of that year, “has cast a black shadow upon the U.S. Government.” But that sunlight offered enlightenment, as well. 

We learned just how bad it had gotten under Biden’s first two years in office. “In sum, the federal government made Twitter its b … uh … disinformation agent.”

The triumph of freer speech had ramifications, from the amusing — leftists leaving Twitter (now X.com) for alternatives such as BlueSky, where they did not have to interact with those whom they disagree — to the momentous — the return of Donald Trump to the presidency. 

Elon and Twitter/​X get much of the credit.

Now the latest news: “Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s xAI artificial intelligence firm has acquired his social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, for $33 billion (€30.5 billion),” writes Srinivas Mazumdaru. “Musk announced the transaction in a post on X, saying: ‘The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt).’

“xAI and X’s futures are intertwined,” he wrote. “Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent. This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI’s advanced AI capability and expertise with X’s massive reach.”

Much of the deal’s specifics remained unclear. Both companies are privately held, so they are not required to disclose their finances to the public.

It’s also not clear if the move will change anything for X users.

“Elon Musk sells X to his AI company xAI,” DW, March 28, 2025.

Let’s hope speech on X — and on the Internet generally — becomes even freer.

“The whole point of taxes and government spending is to promote the general welfare, or so the standard theory runs,” Paul Jacob wrote two years ago. “But there’s nothing ‘general’ about the extreme sectarianism of ‘public radio and TV,’ with less well-​to-​do taxpayers subsidizing the far wealthier public media audience.”

That “extreme sectarianism” was on display this week in the hilarious questioning of Katherine Maher, Chief Executive Officer and President, National Public Radio, and Paula Kerger, Chief Executive Officer and President, Public Broadcasting Service.

This was part of the House Subcommittee on “Delivering Efficiency in Government,” which — like Elon Musk’s band of waste-​cutters — initials down to DOGE:

A lot of this is hilarious. Must-​see TV. Representative Jasmine Crockett was especially clueless in her comments, which have to be heard to be … believed?

Just remember what Paul’s said, though:

One shouldn’t need the latest ratcheting-​up of the culture wars to oppose what we call, in America, “public radio and TV.” Taxpayer-​subsidized broadcast media is a bad idea. Period. Full stop. 

Defund NPR. Defund PBS. No more state-​run or ‑subsidized media.

Paul Jacob, “Public TV Vetoed” (Common Sense, May 9, 2023).

“I really thought Trump’s approval might break below 50 today,” Rasmussen Reports pollster Mark Mitchell confessed. “Back up to 51.”

Why?

“He’s doing what he promised to do. Hence the approval.”

Yet it is hard to hear the support from the din of the critics. And some of Trump’s moves do seem reckless, unconstitutional, or at least not well-thought-out.

But significantly unmentioned in most reports is the common-​sense revulsion of normal citizens to the riotous vandalism against Tesla owners’ property.

The more Teslas burn, the more electric cars keyed, the more surfaces spray-​painted, the higher Trump’s approval rating will likely go. This was the general tenor of Paul Jacob’s commentary from last week.

But as Trump’s popularity bounces back, the Vermont fake socialist’s popularity rises, too:

Just to be clear about the moment we’re in:@BernieSanders biggest crowd in Phoenix previously was 11,300 in 2015 when he was running for president. 

Tonight, in a non-​campaign year, when he is running for nothing, 15,000 Arizonans turned out.

This is a big deal. 

Anna Bahr (@anna_bahr), X.com (March 20, 2025).

The question is, will Bernie succeed in revving up crowds while dampening down the wildfire of riot and mayhem? 

If he doesn’t do the latter, the opposition to the left will get stronger too, feeding Trump’s popularity. For most people not committed to leftism do in fact disapprove of violence, on the whole — despite the constant fear in the Deep State of “right-​wing extremism.”

“I can’t walk past the TV without seeing a Tesla on fire,” lamented Elon Musk.

“At least ten Tesla dealerships, charging stations and facilities have been hit by vandals,” a Friday NBC News article explains, “many of whom have lit cars on fire, while a growing collection of videos posted to social media have shown people defacing and damaging Tesla vehicles.”

NBC’s estimate may rest on a Fox News report that actually listed ten Tesla dealerships and charging stations by name and location. 

“Some of the most prominent incidents have been reported in left-​leaning cities in the Pacific Northwest,” asserts the Associated Press, “like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, where anti-​Trump and anti-​Musk sentiment runs high.”

These appear to be “spontaneous” eruptions of hatred towards Elon Musk, whose DOGE task force has loudly proclaimed major cuts to “waste, fraud and abuse” in the federal government. 

“The Hamilton police in Ontario announced that over 80 Tesla vehicles were damaged in a vandalism attack at a Tesla service center,” a Canadian news source reports. 

“US Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Thursday that three defendants accused of vandalism targeting Elon Musk’s Tesla electric vehicle company could face up to 20 years in prison,” adds the BBC.

“Bondi said the damage to Tesla cars, dealerships and charging stations was ‘domestic terrorism.’

“Arrests and charges against the three suspects were previously announced by prosecutors.”

Musk is the electric automobile company’s largest shareholder, at 5.3 percent, but investment firms own no small amount of Tesla stock, and the hit in price hurts more people than Mr. Musk himself. “‘Hang onto your stock,’ Elon Musk tells Tesla workers,” explains the Financial Times, and “urges vandals to ‘stop being psycho,’” but does anyone expect programed leftist saboteurs to “stop being psycho”? Really?

Paul Jacob’s commentary on the uprising of saboteurs appeared at this website on Wednesday.