Jeffries says Trump tariff plan all about creating breaks for the rich

When Donald Trump introduced his tariff plan, the entire left, and some of the right, lost their collective minds.

Now that nations are trying to make deals, the left is looking for new ways to attack Trump on this front, which now includes an idiotic attack by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

The plan

When Trump first announced the plan, he said a 10% base tariff would be imposed on some nations, while larger tariffs would be initiated against specific nations that have been hitting the United States for years, decades even.

Trump’s order stated, “Large and persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits have led to the hollowing out of our manufacturing base; resulted in a lack of incentive to increase advanced domestic manufacturing capacity; undermined critical supply chains; and rendered our defense-industrial base dependent on foreign adversaries.”

The order continued, “President Trump is invoking his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) to address the national emergency posed by the large and persistent trade deficit that is driven by the absence of reciprocity in our trade relationships and other harmful policies like currency manipulation and exorbitant value-added taxes (VAT) perpetuated by other countries.”

While Trump has suspended some of these tariffs, China has dug in, which has led to the media pitching a whole new narrative.

China and Taiwan

The media is doing the hard work for China by coming up with ways for China to get back at Trump.

The one narrative that is blowing up right now is that China may decide to invade Taiwan as a way to get back at Trump for dropping huge tariffs (the latest announcement being a 125% tariff after China announced higher tariffs).

Numerous mainstream media news outlets are now suggesting that the tariffs against China will spell doom for Taiwan.

Some have even gone so far as to suggest that China will take military action, or at least threaten to, against Taiwan if Trump does not back down.

Jeffries speaks up

Jeffries has not mentioned Taiwan yet, but he is pushing the narrative that Trump only levied these tariffs to help out his rich buddies and hurt the middle class.

He stated, “The Trump tariffs, which are a tax on the American people, are so reckless, so un-strategic, so lacking in any sophistication that the only conclusion that one can draw is that Donald Trump and the Republicans are intentionally tanking the economy.

“Is it because, as Donald Trump has indicated, that during tough economic times the rich get richer, and it’s a buying opportunity?”

At best, that is a rather interesting twist to what Trump actually stated, which was that with the market crashing, everyone has a great opportunity to make some money on the upswing. Just once, I would love to see a Democrat politician be honest, but I doubt that will ever happen in our lifetime.