Now Bring Back Rule of Law

The Trump Administration has, after nine months of ignoring the advice of economists and businessmen, not to mention common sense, might be about to stop slapping tariffs on things -- like coffee -- we can't produce at scale in the United States:

The offer to exempt more products from tariffs reflects a growing sentiment among administration officials that the U.S. should lower levies on goods that it doesn't domestically produce, say people familiar with administration planning. That notion "has been emerging over time" within the administration, said Everett Eissenstat, deputy director of the National Economic Council in Trump's first term. "There is definitely that recognition."

I can't resist noting the headline, "The U.S. Is Tiptoeing Away From Many of Trump's Signature Tariffs" -- and Cato's Scott Lincicome's reply: "Tiptoe faster."

This is what passes for good news these days, as clueless or criminal as this Administration is, and I would be remiss not to reflect on a couple of revealing items from the rest of the story.

First, we have Trump all but stating out loud that he never meant his line about Americans not having to pay tariffs:

On Friday, Trump unveiled his latest action under Section 232, imposing 25% tariffs on trucks and truck parts, as well as 10% tariffs on buses, effective Nov. 1. As part of that action, Trump also expanded a tariff relief program for automakers, allowing them to apply for credits to partially offset the cost of tariffs on car and truck parts until 2030, instead of 2027. [bold added]

This, of course, isn't the first time the President has admitted that his favorite policy is screwing Americans, so it speaks just as ill of the thinking or courage of his supporters, who still largely show no limits to what they will tolerate from the person they helped elect to bring relief from the high taxes of the previous Administration.

Second, after noting three laundry-list "Annexes" of tariff exceptions, we have an official touting, not just a sea-change in the economic "thinking" of this Administration, but of its "theory" of government:

The September order also allows new authority to the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative's office to grant tariff exemptions themselves, without Trump himself issuing executive orders mandating the new carve-outs. [bold added]

After only nine months, they've realized that Dear Leader needn't be taxed beyond his capacity by meddling in every single transaction of the economy! Maybe in another nine, they'll come up with general rules for everyone, along with the idea of the government only having to be alert for violations. I humbly suggest a short, easy-to-remember (and so not cognitively taxing name) for such rules: laws.

Just joking. Trump's lackeys will know what exemptions he'd want, and if they didn't want a way for Trump to collect bribes or terrify political opponents, we'd still be abiding by the laws -- already in place when Trump took office -- concerning trade and tariffs. And they would have made any changes in accordance to the Constitution, rather than at the whim of one person who admittedly hates trade and obviously loves corruption.

-- CAV