President Donald Trump unveiled a full slate of eye-popping tariffs on countries large and small last Friday, and the reactions over the weekend have been intense.
Welcome to “Tariff Panic Week.”
Many people have noted the precipitous drop in the stock market and their own IRAs since the tariffs were announced. One reporter who questioned Trump aboard Air Force One over the weekend even asked him whether he’d call off the tariffs if the Dow Jones index kept dropping.
“That’s a stupid question,” Trump snapped.
There are a lot of stupid questions being asked and instant analysis being offered on the tariffs. Most of it misunderstands why the Trump administration took this step.
On the latest episode, Peter Schweizer and Eric Eggers, co-hosts of The Drill Down podcast, explain the tariffs as addressing four main issues: national debt, consumer debt, our geostrategic position, and of course, trade.