Will Today Be “Liberation Day”?
Only minutes from now—at 4:00 PM Eastern Time—U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to officially announce what he is calling “Liberation Day.” It will be his declaration of a slew of financial tariffs that he will impose upon many nations for products made in foreign countries and imported to the U.S. to be sold here. It involves many, many things that Americans buy that are made in other countries that cause the U.S. to have a trade imbalance between itself and other nations.
But is this a bad thing for Americans, as Trump alleges? Donald Trump has repeatedly said for many years, even before he became president the first time, that “tariffs are great.” And he adds, seemingly amusedly, “the word tariff is the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
Or Will Today Be “Doom and Gloom Day”?
No, many economists say there are no winners in trade wars that involve raising high tariffs. And that’s what Jason Furman wrote yesterday in The New York Times. His op-ed is entitled, “Trump is about to bet the economy on a theory that makes no sense.” The article has this subhead, “Trump has many arguments for tariffs. They’re all wrong.” Furman then tries to prove it.
Furman predicts concerning Trump’s massive array of tariffs against other countries, “Their effect” in the U.S. “will be lower economic growth, higher inflation, higher unemployment, the destruction of wealth and a tax increase on American families. It will deal a blow to the rules underlying the global trading system and further empower China.”
Furman lays out all kinds of reasons why Donald Trump is dead wrong about our trade imbalance with other countries. He argues, “American companies are able to offer better products at lower prices and be globally competitive because they use imported steel, auto parts and precision machinery. Moreover, importing these items frees us up to devote more of our production and employment to higher productivity and higher-wage jobs, including in export industries such as aerospace and software design.”
Many economists, trade analysts, and financial institutions in the U.S. are now predicting that Trump’s tariffs could throw the U.S., and perhaps the world, into a serious recession. The elite Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs raised its prediction of a U.S. recession in the coming months to a 35% chance. And Deutsche Bank has placed it at a 50% chance. Because of this, investors have been selling stocks and looking for safe havens.
Does the Bible Say Anything About It?
The Bible has much wisdom literature that I applied to Donald Trump in many of my blog posts when he was president the first time, back in 2017 to 2021. I then put some of it in a book entitled Bible Predicts Trump Fall. The two main verses I applied to him because of his extreme braggadocia were as follows: “When pride comes, then comes disgrace” (Proverbs 11.2 NRSV), and “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16.18).
Another such Bible verse I applied to Trump in my book reads, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14.12). Will Trump’s “Liberation Day” today prove this proverb true of him? I’m not sure, but I think it might. What do you think?
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