Trump allegedly started a trade war because he was in a bad mood
President Trump's bad mood is allegedly responsible for what is snowballing into a full-blown trade war, officials told NBC News on Friday. One insider said Trump had become "unglued" when he made the unplanned announcement about tariffs at a meeting Wednesday. The president's comments have since provoked retaliatory threats from the European Union and Canada, and earned an expression of "grave concern" from China.
Trump, the two officials said, was angry and gunning for a fight, and he chose a trade war, spurred on by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Peter Navarro, the White House director for trade. ... There were no prepared, approved remarks for the president to give at the planned meeting, there was no diplomatic strategy for how to alert foreign trade partners, there was no legislative strategy in place for informing Congress, and no agreed upon communications plan ... No one at the State Department, the Treasury Department, or the Defense Department had been told that a new policy was about to be announced or given an opportunity to weigh in in advance. [NBC News]
NBC News notes that despite his tariff announcement, Trump was still believed to be angry Friday.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Ashes to ashes, ducks to ducks: the end of Bazball?Talking Point Swashbuckling philosophy of England men’s cricket team ‘that once carried all along with it has become divisive and polarising’
-
The strangely resilient phenomenon of stowaways on planesIn The Spotlight Lapses in security are still allowing passengers to board flights without tickets or passports
-
Four Seasons Seoul: a fascinating blend of old and new in South KoreaThe Week Recommends Located right in the heart of the action, this classy hotel is the perfect base to explore the capital
-
TikTok secures deal to remain in USSpeed Read ByteDance will form a US version of the popular video-sharing platform
-
Unemployment rate ticks up amid fall job lossesSpeed Read Data released by the Commerce Department indicates ‘one of the weakest American labor markets in years’
-
US mints final penny after 232-year runSpeed Read Production of the one-cent coin has ended
-
Warner Bros. explores sale amid Paramount bidsSpeed Read The media giant, home to HBO and DC Studios, has received interest from multiple buying parties
-
Gold tops $4K per ounce, signaling financial uneaseSpeed Read Investors are worried about President Donald Trump’s trade war
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
