Another Trump-Created Crisis Averted by Fake Deal

Jonathan Chait: “Last night, the Trump administration announced with maximum fanfare that the trade war with the European Union was over. ‘This was a big day for free and fair trade!,’ tweeted an excited President Trump. For all the hype and surprisingly credulous press the announcement attracted, it amounts to little more than a face-saving truce. If you’re looking for any details as to how this will work, too bad, they don’t exist.”

“The trade ‘deal’ follows the script of the ballyhooed North Korean nuclear ‘deal’ from last month. The cycle begins with bellicose Trumpian threats designed to increase American leverage. This leads to negotiations, which produce an impossibly ambitious and thoroughly vague “solution” that allows Trump to boast that he has averted a crisis of his own making.”