Government by chaos, cnt’d

One of the auto moguls Trump talked to managed to get through to him that automobile manufacturing in North America is heavily integrated:

President Donald Trump is granting a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers, as worries persist that the newly launched trade war could crush domestic manufacturing.

The pause comes after Trump spoke with leaders of the “big 3” automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, on Wednesday, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Asked if 30 days was enough for the auto sector to prepare for the new taxes, Leavitt said Trump was blunt with the automakers seeking an exemption: “He told them that they should get on it, start investing, start moving, shift production here to the United States of America where they will pay no tariff.”

Trump had long promised to impose tariffs, but his opening weeks in the White House involved aggressive threats and surprise suspensions, leaving allies unclear at what the U.S. president is actually trying to achieve.

Based off various Trump administration statements, the tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China imposed on Tuesday are about stopping illegal immigration, blocking fentanyl smuggling, closing the trade gap, balancing the federal budget and other nations showing more respect for Trump.

All of that has left Canada, a long-standing ally, determined to stand up against Trump with their own retaliatory tariffs, rejecting a White House overture to possibly reduce some of tariffs imposed on Tuesday.

But because this is all so ad hoc and impulsive it will mean more instability than just the tariffs themselves would produce, along with endless opportunities for corrupt deals. And both every tarrif and every quick reversal will be met with “brilliant gambit, sir!” by pretty much the entire Republican Party:

The policy chaos, I think I’ll survive.

Watching Trumpsplainers rapturously praise each set of tariffs with the same energy they use to praise their cancellation—and then, praise their reinstatement, and recancellation, and re-reinstatement, and re-recancelling—might,… https://t.co/YJCHZDgBYF— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) March 5, 2025