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Diplomatic blunders by the current administration have already estranged the United States from many allied nations. To make things worse, the president has now thrown together a hodgepodge of tariffs, which have angered many trading partners and already resulted in retaliatory increases in tariffs on American goods.
In the wake of the president’s announcement of his tariff bonanza, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent has threatened — or perhaps begged — other countries not to retaliate with increased tariffs of their own. Right. He might have done better to have a frank talk with the president so that we didn’t end up in this mess in the first place.
In defense of his actions, the president stated on social media that “the end result will be historic.” Sadly, his mismanagement of the economy is already historic, as in historically bad.
Richard Leman
Honokaa, Hawaii island
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