by Michael Mulcahy, CEO
Chaos, Consternation and Confusion seem to be the hallmark of what we are getting from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue these days. While we had a taste of it from Trump 1.0, the 2.0 era is one that seems to have a strategy that is better thought out than 1.0, but more chaotic than chaos has ever known. The rethoric from Trump is a constant rehash of the same old lines that he has been spinning for ages now – ‘the USA is being mugged, raped and taken advantage of by every national and none, even the uninhabited island in the Antartic that are only home to penguins are at fault, according to the perma tanned 47th incumbant of The White House.
Tariffs are on, then they are off, then they are on again, off again, raised, lowered and then paused for 90 days. It’s chaos for sure and the bond markets certainly were the only non humans that seemed to have the ear of 47. China of course seems to be staying the course and it would seem likely that they want to make a point about all of this so that the rest of the world looks at China as an ally of sorts from now on. The visit of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week was almost like Europe sending a coded signal to Washington that allies come and go. China certainly has much to gain from such a move, as has Canada, Mexico and so many other nations that Trump has unleashed his grievances on.
It is clear to the dogs in the street that there are no winners in a tariffs war and the US administration with all of its secretaries, and in particular VP Vance, seem to be prone to tantrums when they think that bluff, bluster and lies will convince the rest of the world that they know what they are doing, when the penguins on McDonald and Heard Islands seem to have the ear of the sane world and know that Trump & Co are as out of their depth. It has all the hallmarks of the Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng shenanigans in 2022 when they almost brought the UK to its knees.
Let’s hope that Trump & Co don’t succeed in bringing the global economy to its knees, but if they are intent on destruction, that they confine it to their own fifty states and know what global isolationism is like for once in their lives.
