The front webpage headline adds “What if” to the beginning and a question mark to the end of the below headline as read in the single page. Because what looks to be straight opinion is now how the WP writes news
Trump is serious about building a new economy behind a wall of tariffs
President Donald Trump faces a major obstacle in trying to transform the U.S. economy into a self-reliant colossus: himself.
The Credentialed Media just can’t help themselves. Anyways
Building the factories to realize the president’s promised high-tariff “Golden Age” and finding the workers to operate them will not be easy. But Trump’s use of unilateral presidential authority, rather than congressional legislation, to enact new import taxes, his contradictory policies, and his history of changing course may discourage business executives from even starting.
Since his April 2 high-tariff announcement, Trump and his senior advisers have given conflicting signals about whether he intends to use the tariff threat as leverage to win concessions from U.S. trading partners or levy permanent import taxes of up to 50 percent on some countries (and even higher in the case of China).
That’s kind of the point: wanting other governments to be unsure
“They can both be true. There can be permanent tariffs and there can also be negotiations,” the president said on Monday as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House.
And it is a long, long, long screed saying “the US cannot do this! We cannot have tariffs! We cannot have manufacturing in the U.S.!” It’s almost like the Washington Post is rooting against the U.S. But, let’s see. The WP forgot to mention a few things
- Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs Prompt Japan Trade Negotiations with U.S.
- Report: India Wants ‘Equitable Trade Deal,’ Not ‘Confrontation,’ After Trump Tariffs
- Taiwan Offers Zero Tariffs and More Investment in U.S.
- Israel vows to ax trade deficit in bid to lift US tariffs
Seems good
Even if the president agrees to lower or waive the highest tariffs that he has announced for individual countries, the across-the-board 10 percentage point increase in tariff rates that he implemented on April 5 lifted the U.S. average to its highest mark since at least the 1940s. Many analysts believe that new tax will be permanent. (snip)
Some products — such as coffee or bananas — cannot be produced in the continental United States, even if protected by tariffs. So Americans will pay higher prices to import them. Other goods could be produced in the U.S., but will also cost more since American wages are significantly higher than in other countries such as China or Mexico, said Furman.
The easiest answer is that the other countries remove their tariffs.
Almost 70 countries have now approached us wanting to help rebalance global trade.
On behalf of @POTUS, I'm glad to join @USTradeRep to open talks with Japan as we work to enact the President’s vision for a new Golden Age of Global Trade.pic.twitter.com/PGUGjh7JkH
— Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) April 7, 2025
Read: Washington Post Goes TDS Over Trump’s “New Economy Behind Wall Of Tariffs” »