The Hits Keep Coming

Paul Krugman: “To an important extent the economy’s resilience has depended on the widespread belief by investors and businesses that the Trump shocks are one-time events. Businesses can live with 10 or 15 percent tariffs, if that’s the new normal. The world economy can even manage in the face of significantly reduced flows of oil from the Persian Gulf.”

“But it’s much harder to deal with a trade war in which Trump keeps finding new enemies — with a spiraling conflict with Canada, of all places, a nation whose auto industry, in particular, is so integrated with U.S. manufacturing that separating them is almost impossible to manage.”

“The Iran War has been a disaster, but markets were beginning to believe that the worst was over — until Trump began bombing Iran again with no clear objective beyond the visceral desire to reach out and hurt someone, doing so despite overwhelming evidence that the U.S. military is desperately short of munitions and that Hegseth has pushed out many of its competent leaders.”