Like an addict looking for a high, Donald Trump seems to be itching to show the world who is boss all the time. On Friday, he scratched that itch by, once again, sending stock markets into a tailspin.
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Donald Trump clearly derives some sort of perverse pleasure from being able to single-handedly send global stock markets into a tailspin, thereby losing investors hundreds of billions of dollars, simply by sitting down and composing one of his trademark “Truths.”
However, he has not been getting his fix since announcing a pause to most of the tariffs he had previously imposed, then changed, then imposed again, then revoked, and imposed, changed, and paused once more.
Honestly, we are not sure of the order of these changes or what the tariffs are now for which country, but we are pretty sure that nobody at the White House does either.
What matters is that it has been a couple weeks since Trump has been able to show the world, as well as any Americans with a 401(k) or other investments, that they are all at his mercy.
Which is why the US president took to social media on Friday morning to once again plunge global markets in turmoil.
Specifically, Trump threatened the European Union (EU), which he says was formed primarily to take advantage of the US on trade, with a 50 percent tariff beginning next month.
Since he is not a subtle man, the president also explained why he felt forced to take this step. As it turns out, the EU, contrary to his own prediction, has not been eager to cut a deal with the US in response to his initial tariffs.
In fact, many countries have not. After suggesting that the US could close 90 trade deals in 90 days, there has so far only been one… a limited agreement with the UK that primarily benefits the Brits.
The EU, Trump wrote, “has been very difficult to deal with,” adding later that “our discussions with them are going nowhere!”
As a result, the president said he is “recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”
Recommending to whom, since he is asserting this awesome power solely for himself? That remains a mystery.
Maybe it would help to think of Trump as one of those cartoon characters with an angel and a devil on each shoulder that are constantly arguing over whether he should impose some new tariffs… and the angel can only keep the devil at bay for so long.
After all, those tariffs don’t affect Trump personally since he knows what’s coming and he and his inner circle could, in theory, make gajillions of dollars by trading accordingly. We’re not saying that’s what’s happening. However, it might be.
In any case, the president’s fortune is secure no matter how much he tanks the global economy (and stocks dropped by a couple of percentage points in Europe immediately after his social media post was published, and Dow features were down sharply in the US as well).
The best evidence of that came Thursday night, when Trump attended a dinner with the top 220 holders of his meme coin.
Essentially, these people had shelled out an average of close to $2 million for something that has as much monetary value as a printout of this article.
As long as Trump knows that he can keep that crypto grift going indefinitely, who cares about the global economy? Certainly not the US president.
One person who was absent from the dinner, but now probably wishes he had been there, was Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Because Trump wasn’t done with imposing a tariff on that recalcitrant EU, he also had some advice for the tech giant.
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” Trump wrote. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your for your attention to this matter!”
Well, America, enjoy your presidential price controls and those money-losing 401k accounts.
You voted for this.
