What Happens When There Are No Deals?, Paul Krugman, April 27, 2025

Trump’s tariff fantasies are colliding with reality. Now what?

I’m still traveling and won’t resume normal posting for a while. No primer today. But I have time to talk briefly about the mystery of the tariff endgame.

Trump could just say, “I’m imposing huge tariffs, and that’s that.” But he keeps insisting that he’s imposing tariffs because other countries treat America unfairly, and that he’ll force them to stop. This fantasy of dominance runs into two problems: most countries aren’t treating us unfairly, and trade negotiations are going badly if they’re happening at all. Yet Trump keeps insisting that big deals with other countries are just around the corner. Read his amazing interview with Time

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