Is There a Shot the Trump’s Tariffs Will Elicit the Deals He Seeks?

  

Is There a Shot the Trump’s Tariffs Will Elicit the Deals He Seeks?

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

As I have learned by over half a century negotiating high dollar and high-profile transactions in the shark-invested waters of the entertainment industry, if you start hard, you damned well better have the negotiating power to shove the deal down your opposite number’s throat. It is a whole lot easier to escalate from reasonableness than to try and sink your teeth into the negotiator on the other side at the beginning. For those who are not used to bullies, they may not take your fang-leading effort at face value… or they may believe you are all show but lack the staying power inherent in your initial hostile approach. I’ve enjoyed enough bullies to be able to smile.

It get’s worse if you have multiple simultaneous negotiations based on the same subject matter. If you have the bargaining power across the board, you can even tilt the numbers upon which the negotiations are based in your favor. Trade deficit values in tariff negotiations is like a dentist grinning and holding pliers and a power drill before a minor procedure, especially when the “patient” doesn’t want dental work and is equally as powerful as you may be.

Comparing apples to apples works only so far. But if one country makes tons of money from services-based businesses, digital platforms and financial/banking structures, if you just look at one sector of trade (like goods sold which may define the other party), you can create a case for trade deficit-based tariffs… but it obviously is a flawed basis. The more additional variables you can add, the more you can justify bully demands. But Canada as a major source of fentanyl? Huh?

And woe to those you are trying to intimidate who are powerful and willing to push back really harder! China has told Mr. Trump to “bring it on,” and the EU is contemplating applying the Anti-Coercion laws which contain the ability to deny EU access to the offending nation and its companies. How happy would Google and Facebook feel if they were banned from continental Europe… or if US banks and other financial institutions were banned from accessing the EU markets at all? Or what if China froze all the electronic components America carmakers and manufacturers of sophisticated electronic systems? Or began dumping lots of its US dollar reserves to undercut the value of dollar way below what Trump hoped for.

So let me answer the title question very simply. While a finesse player who really understood trade deficits, one not attempting to take on the whole world, began this effort with sensible goals, perhaps. But braggadocio Trump tends to burn his bridges before he tries to cross on them… so simply, while Trump may score a couple of victories, NO… We are now a global pariah facing a vast wall of anger and retribution. I suspect you will be able to book rooms for 2028 Olympics really inexpensively.

I’m Peter Dekom, and how would you like it if most of the rest of the world were furious and waiting to get you, your companies and your citizens; well, they ARE?