Donald Trump promised that his tariff regime would bring wealth and prosperity to the nation, but as it becomes abundantly clear that the misguided economic tantrum will result in higher prices for Americans, the president is advising everyone to simply buy less stuff.
Trump said during a Cabinet meeting last Wednesday that, yes, tariffs will make it more difficult for consumers to afford goods, but it’s not a big deal if “the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls.” He was asked about the comments during a Sunday interview with NBC News, and pressed directly if prices would be increasing as a result of his dispute with China.
Trump reiterated that little girls didn’t need “30 dolls,” adding that a person doesn’t “need to have 250 pencils, they can have five.”
What?
The golden age of American prosperity will apparently not be marked by lower housing prices, increased wage, and affordability of goods and services, but by arbitrary pencil rationing and fewer dolls?
He tripled down on the anti-consumerism pitch while speaking with reporters later on Sunday. “A young lady — a 10-year-old girl, nine year-old girl, 15-year-old girl — doesn’t need 37 dolls. She could be very happy with 2 or 3 or 4 or 5,” the president said of the imagined example of personal austerity.
Now, we cannot speculate as to what sort of abundance the Trump children were treated to on their birthdays and Christmas, but the average “young lady” in this nation does not have 37 dolls. It’s unlikely that any parent — outside of the frivolously wealthy, fiscally irresponsible, or deeply out of touch — would think that to be a reasonable doll-to-child ratio.
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As the president attempts to explain away the negative economic impact of his tariff war with China and other major trade partners, it’s obvious the man has rarely ever had to pay mind to the day-to-day purchases made by his household — or even what the average American household actually consumes.
The reality is that the president’s unilateral decision to launch the country into one of the biggest trade disputes in its history will cost consumers money. Wealth hoarders like the Trumps may choose to only gift the young women in their lives five dolls instead of 30 — but everyday Americans who save for the Christmas season may struggle to find one reasonably priced gift for the children in their lives, given that retailers are already predicting shortages of toys amid the trade dispute between China and the White House.
Last week, the Trump administration accused Amazon of engaging in a “hostile and political act,” after rumors emerged that the retail giant would list tariff-based price increases on their website. After Trump reportedly called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a rage, the company issued a clarification that “the team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon Haul store has considered listing import charges on certain products,” but that no such policy would be put into place.
Because of course, allowing Amazon to engage transparently with consumers about why things are getting more expensive would be to admit that the president made a mistake, and Trump can’t have that.
From Rolling Stone US
