Tariff Concerns Continue to Flood Press Headlines
It has been expressed that “no American president has disrupted so many aspects of the nation’s daily life as President Trump has in less than three months in office,” while raising the question as to “whether his disruption is helping him achieve his ambitions to end foreign wars, slash government and strip liberals of their power in American culture, or whether he has engendered a pushback that will undermine his plans.” Swelling concerns over the yet-to-be determined long-term impact of the “Liberty Day” tariff program launched last week by the White House have given rise to numerous headlines following turbulent market activity last week, that reportedly “wiped trillions of dollars off global stock markets.” In response to the current state of affairs, Jamie Dimon, CEO and chairman of JPMorgan Chase, stated in an April 7 letter to shareholders, “The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and “trade wars,” ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility.” The concern of a potential impact on America’s long-term economic alliances was also expressed by Dimon as well as fund manager Bill Ackman, while Kori Schake, a National Security Council official under former President George W. Bush who now directs foreign-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-of-center think tank stated, “Now we see two of America’s closest allies in Asia—Japan and South Korea—entering into trade talks with China as a way to create a nontariff zone that could exclude the United States.” The AP Votecast survey of 139,938 registered voters that cast ballots in the 2024 general election was conducted in all 50 states by NORC at the University of Chicago. Interview responses compiled between October 28 and November 5, 2024, reportedly indicated that “some 83% wanted significant change in how the country is run, including 27% who said they would like to see “complete and total upheaval.” However, now that “the effect of those changes are being felt, Americans are divided.