“History and facts have proven that the United States’ increase in tariffs will not solve its own problems,” The Chinese Commerce Ministry
Unfortunately, Donald Trump has never let history and facts interfere with his gut feeling and kneejerk reactions when it comes to business decisions. As proof, Donald Trump’s history of business ventures is blemished with an extensive list of bad decisions and failures.
A prime example is Trump’s holdings in Atlantic City. The Trump Taj Mahal, the Trump Plaza, the Trump Castle, and the Plaza Hotel all went bankrupt.
In addition, The Trump Organization went bankrupt in 2004. It was then restructured as Trump Hotels &Casino Resorts, only to go bankrupt again in 2009.
Other business interests associated with Mr. Trump such as Trump Shuttle Inc., Trump University, Trump Vodka, Trump Mortgage LLC, GoTrump.com, Trump Steaks, and Trump Mortgage, LLC also all failed, some practically overnight.
That’s why when Mr. Trump displayed his board listing the recipients of tariffs on April 2, his self-proclaimed Liberation Day, it was only natural to assume he was just a day late with his April Fool’s Day joke. Or perhaps this was an incident similar to his infamous Hurricane Dorian Sharpiegate controversy.
How else does one explain a 10% tariff on goods imported from the Australian territories Heard Island and McDonald Islands since they have zero human inhabitants?
And what exactly are the hundreds of thousands of penguins that inhabit the islands exporting to the U.S.? There are only two things that they could produce—penguins and penguin poop— neither of which is in high demand here.
Nonetheless, the Internet reaction to Mr. Trump’s embarrassing geographical faux pas was quick, mixed, and very witty.
One reader said: “No one gets a free pass, including those damn freeloading penguins.”
Another threatened “Those penguins better pay up if they know what’s good for them. If not, JD Vance might have to punish them with a visit.”
A third comment sounded suspiciously like the POTUS himself: “The ungrateful, wicked inhabitants of the Heard and McDonald Islands have egregiously maltreated the hard-working American people for far too long. The penguins will rape and pillage us NO MORE! Tariff them into oblivion for their epic and historic sins against us!”
Finally, this quip: “Heard Island residents have put retaliatory tariffs of 5000% on all US sardines & banned JD Vance!” Possibly a suggestion that the dreaded trade war has begun.
And it’s not just the penguins of the Australian territories that are in this fix. Mr. Trump’s tariff chart also listed that Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago with 2500 people and 1200 dogs, faces a 10% tariff. People in Svalbard are even discouraged by its leaders
from producing babies on the island, so it’s unsure what they are exporting.
Jan Mayen, another territory of Norway, has an abundance of only one thing which it could export with a 10% tariff: fog.
Réunion Island, an overseas territory of France in the Indian Ocean, incredibly faces a 37 percent tariff. No one has explained what Reunion exports to the U.S., but the island regularly sets world records for rainfall, so….
Norfolk Island, an Australian outpost, was slapped with a 29% levy on its exports to the U.S. One resident assumes that it was mistake: “They [Trump administration] probably don’t even know where Norfolk Island is in the world.”
Yes, that is certainly a real possibility.
A Norfolk Island pest control business owner said they did not export anything to the U.S., but they do import some rodent bait from the U.S.
Is this an example of what Mr. Trump means when he says he will make America wealthy again?
One must assume that these tariffs on imports from countries that produce nothing to export to the U.S. are simply oversights made by Mr. Trump and his advisors. Granted, they are minor mistakes but very worrisome, nonetheless.
That’s because Mr. Trump is not gambling with casinos, hotels, or steaks now. He is gambling with people’s livelihoods. And not just those of Americans, but of people around the world.
Trump’s history of business failures should certainly be cause for unease. But more concerning is who he is dealing with and attempting to outwit as president.
It is one thing to win or lose lawsuits brought about by incorrect gut feelings and kneejerk reactions when hiding behind a phalanx of high paid lawyers. But it’s a whole other level of discord when dealing with the likes of China.
That is when one’s ignorance of history and facts can result in disaster.
(1) comment
Everything is going to be fine, just fine. After all he is a stable genius.
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