Donald Trump has continually insisted that deals over his tariffs are coming.
Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that the U.S. doesn’t “have to sign” any trade deals, inadvertently admitting that his administration hasn’t made any progress during the 90-day pause on his disastrous tariffs.
During a tense meeting to discuss tariffs with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the president attempted to move the goal posts on actually completing any agreements with foreign countries.
“Everyone says, ‘When, when, when, are you going to sign deals?’ We don’t have to sign deals!” Trump said.
Because his economic thinking is less advanced than David Ricardo’s, and Ricardo died 200 years ago. Ricardo showed the imbecility of attempting to have a pairwise balance of trade for every trading partner, in simple terms, though probably not simple enough for Trump to understand, even if he attempted to learn.
As an economist recently observed, my balance of trade with my barber is negative: so what?