Trump's solo trade plans worry global markets as key advisor stays away
Former president builds unusual trade team without experienced advisor Lighthizer. New approach includes unexpected tariff threats to Canada Mexico and BRICS nations‚ marking big change from previous term
Back in 2000 Donald Trump wrote something that looks like a prediction: heʼd make himself the main trade-guy if elected president. Now about 24 years later‚ this idea seems to be coming true
His first-term trade boss Robert Lighthizer isnt coming back which means big changes are coming. The new trade team looks quite different: a mix of fresh-faces and old friends (including Peter Navarro who spent some time in jail for not talking about jan 6th stuff)
The first Trump term was kind of old-school with its trade fights: they used well-known rules did proper investigations and made deals that everyone could understand. Now things look way more wild - hes talking about putting huge tariffs on stuff from everywhere
- 25% tax on everything from Canada and Mexico
- 100% tariffs for BRICS countries if they dont use dollars
- Possible new taxes for Europe about defense spending
The new approach is super-different from what we saw before. Jamieson Greer whoʼs only 44 will be the new trade chief; Howard Lutnick whos never done government work before will run commerce stuff. Even Kevin Hassett - a guy who likes free trade - is joining the team
The whole thing looks pretty messy - theres no experienced person like Lighthizer to keep things in order. Last time he helped make the US-Mexico-Canada deal work but now Trump wants to maybe break it. Nobody really knows whatʼll happen next; its gonna be a wild ride for world trade
What I would do … would be to appoint myself U.S. trade representative
Some people say Lighthizer didnt get picked cause he didnt hang out enough at mar-a-lago: others think Trump just wanted someone whoʼd do bigger crazier stuff. Either way the world better get ready for some real unpredictable trade moves
