Trump’s unwanted news to car heads: a clash for what will come

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In a phone call from the Oval Office, President Trump has just delivered unwanted news to three of the strongest executives in cars in America: Mary Para from General Motors, John Elcan from Stelnches and Jim Farley from Ford.

Mr. Trump said the call, which occurred in early March. Customs duties enter into force on April 2. It is time for everyone to get to the plane.

Car chiefs, like other industry leaders, were arguing that Mr. Trump’s tariff of 25 percent on cars coming from Canada and Mexico would cause chaos on their supply chains and bombing a hole through its industry. They won with a kind of kind when Mr. Trump agreed to give them one month rest, until April 2.

But now, it seemed that the major senior car chiefs realized that there was no benefit in fighting for more. They arrived as much as they would have got it.

For American companies, including some of the main donors, the shock of Mr. Trump’s second state is that it really shows that the thing he says publicly for 40 years: foreign countries mix America, and the definitions are a silver bullet of America’s problems. When he says that the “tariff” is The most beautiful word in the dictionaryThis means.

For Mr. Trump, the definitions are not just a negotiating tool. He believes that they will make America rich again. They combine two of its preferred features for the presidency: it is a unilateral force that can manage or stop it on a whim, and they create a beggar economy, forcing the strong people to come before him for mercy.

This account relies on interviews with more than ten Trump administration officials and others on the dynamic of the White House on customs duties. They asked not to be identified to discuss private conversations and deliberations.

In the corporate community – a group that spends a wealth on consultants to explain Mr. Trump, and where the clichies that took it “seriously but not literally” in high trading – many were clinging to it Scenery He only saw the definitions as a leverage tool. Mr. Trump did not like the tariff, they said themselves. He loved what could result in their threat to negotiation.

Over the years, it has become a traditional wisdom that the stock market was the light of Mr. Trump’s guidance and handrails, and that any diving in the market would limit the scope of its definition, which was surgically applied seven years ago.

But Trump 47 has not yet been tightened through the landing market and headlines that would have forced Trump 45 to the opposite direction. Dow Jones Industrial Value shaved more than 600 points since the start of the new definitions. S & P 500 CorrectionThis means that it has decreased by more than 10 percent of its peak.

During his first term, Mr. Trump had a weaker stomach due to the economic pain caused by a narrower program with much definitions. A tariff on more than $ 300 billion of products during his first term; Now, less than two months after two months, definitions were slapped on about a trillion dollars of goods.

The few public opinion polls in modern opinions show an increasing number of Americans who refuse to deal with Mr. Trump with the economy, but his advisers insist that high prices are more than customs tariffs.

A counselor of Mr. Trump, a speaker on the condition that his identity is not disclosed to describe private talks, said that the Biden presidency has proven to Mr. Trump that the stock market is not a measure guaranteed for the future of the economy, nor a useful indication of the voter morale. If so, Mr. Biden, who headed the booming stock market, will definitely be the main, explaining Mr. Trump’s thinking.

Advisors say that Mr. Trump knows that foreign leaders are watching to see if he follows his threats, looking for signs of weakness. They said he believed that retracting his definition will always harm his favorite image as a strong man.

Sometimes give forgiveness of some kind – such as when it is Exempt From Canada and Mexico corresponds to the North American Trading deal. But he said repeatedly that more customs tariffs are on the way.

Business leaders are now re -evaluating the joyful assumptions that have led their thinking since the election day.

Bill Rinsh, the first adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former official at the Ministry of Commerce, said that Mr. Trump was clear in the campaign about his intentions, and that the tariff proposals this time were deeper and more broader than his first term.

“I think it was clear,” he said. “I don’t think people are interested in a lot of attention.”

Bad reading is understandable.

In the period before the 2024 elections, Mr. Trump’s new crops of economic advisors sent reassuring signals to Wall Street. Their general notes indicate that Mr. Trump’s second -term trade policy will be the first. In September, Howard Lottenic, now the trade secretary, described customs duties as a “bargaining slice” that will eventually lead to more free markets. “The tariff pistol will always be loaded on the table, but it is rarely discharged,” wrote Scott Beesen, who became the Treasury Secretary for Mr. Trump, in a letter to his client last year.

Mr. Trump can still back down from some definitions, but if he is thinking about reflection, this will be news of his closest adviser. Mr. Trump has repeatedly said that he is planning to release him A more comprehensive tariff On April 2, his advisers told foreign officials and senior executives that he would not be deterred. Tracking his comments on the cabinet secretaries and assistants in oval offices meetings with his public speech, according to two people who enjoy direct knowledge, spoke on the condition that his identity is not disclosed to describe private talks.

Mr. Trump personally describes or dictates his social position that threatens the customs tariff that is constantly heading like China, Canada and the European Union, revenge for his provocations. Even former assistants who believe that his maximum approach is the mistake he says has a correct point on how China and Europe dealt with the United States unfairly when it comes to trade.

He says, he feels that pressure has succeeded so far, citing Mexico’s willingness to stop the flow of unconventional and fentian immigrants to the United States. Even after Mexico advanced these measures, Mr. Trump is still pushing forward 25 percent of the tariff before they stopped requesting a number of elements.

One of the biggest differences between the first period and now is that Mr. Trump is much more confident in his instincts and has stored his team with people who repeat them. He rarely heard strong opposition views on his economic policies.

Mr. Trump received a fierce opposition to the customs tariff during his first term from those who said they would do costs for consumers and companies and slow down the economy. His team included people who will be indicated by Mr. Trump sarcastically in the name of “globalization” – such as Stephen Mnuchin, the treasury minister at that time, and economic advisor Gary Cohen, who worked with others to stop the customs tariff by taking papers from the president’s office, and showed the president graphics and maps to clarify the benefits of trade. The other assistants, like Larry Kudlo, were the least confrontation but were still skeptical in the policy of protectionism.

Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s advisor, used to be screaming matches in the Oval Office against the so -called globalists. Now, to return to a second term, Mr. Navarro’s conflicts with other advisers are more accurate.

Mr. Bessent was an executive position of the hedge fund, and Mr. Lutnick was the CEO of Wall Street Cantor Fitzgerald. But both of them converted to the public publicly before giving them their jobs. Whatever they think about the special definitions, no one sits through the firm office of Mr. Trump, he is strongly arguing against his economic ideas. His current team’s arguments revolve around public messages about definitions, as well as exemptions, size and timing of definitions, but no one defies the idea of ​​using them in a way.

Mr. Trump also hears a strong opposition from Capitol Hill. Republican lawmakers either turn into protectionism or oppose speaking. The Wall Street Journal is a rare right -wing institution that is still constantly challenging its approach to trade.

Mr. Lutnick, who is also overseeing the US Trade Office, is receiving many calls from the Illuminati business leaders, along with the Chief of Staff of the White House, Suzy Wales, Minister of Agriculture, Brock Rollins.

On the night of March 13, Mr. Lootnick, Mr. Pesin, and Kevin Haysit, the National Director of the Economic Council, met with a few others at the Maritime Observatory with Vice President JD Vance to discuss the existence of a coherent public message about the economy, amid complaints from the allies about the inconsistency, according to four people who were chosen at the meeting.

White House officials declined to comment on the meeting.

But in a statement presented by the White House, Mr. Navarro described Mr. Trump’s advisers as following his progress, as he described them as “a variety of supplementary skills and high levels of confidence with names such as Bessent, Greer, Hassett and Lutnick who are discussing behind closed doors and appearing as one group, one.”

There were little exceptions granted. Mrs. Rollins heard farmers who wanted to exempt Potas, an important component of fertilizers. Mr. Trump eventually agreed to decrease the customs tariff by 10 percent, but he was not satisfied with this decline, according to a person familiar with the issue. In a statement, Ms. Rollins said, “Reducing the customs tariff for the potash is an important step in helping farmers to manage and secure the costs of the main inputs at the height of the agricultural season while strengthening long -term agricultural trade relations,” said Ms. Rollins.

But in many other cases, Mr. Trump seemed less ready to make great exemptions in the industry than in his first term.

While some industry executives have tried to retreat during discussions with the White House, very few said about anything publicly; Those who got the anger of the Trump administration. Those who spoke in particular have classified any criticism of Mr. Trump between luxurious praise.

Mr. Rinsh said that some companies “intimidate” a return to the tariff, and anxiety to become a kind of goal. He said: “No one wants to be shown in public, because they are concerned about the consequences.”

But these companies still depend on the policies they prefer, such as tax cuts and the abolition of restrictions.