Trump continues to back aluminum and steel tariffs despite Republican fears

[masterpanthera_t]

I am debating whether to file this under "even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while" or a "very intelligent move" category. Based on the chaos in this administration, it could be the former category. However, considering that with this move, Trump essentially built his image up with potential undecided voters in the blue collar regions of the country that can potentially make him seem both tough, and protective of US workers, while possibly not having as much of a real impact (I think so because Canada and Mexico are exempt from this, and depending on the situation he can exempt any other country he wants, thereby avoiding retaliatory tariffs from countries/regions which themselves won't be affected due to exemptions). This can make him look tough against China, while at the same time not really affect China in this case (I could be wrong, but I don't believe hardly significant amounts of Chinese steel are imported by us), and help gather some voters in the midwest or nearby.

On a related note I've heard Brazil is irritated with the tariffs at the moment as they use US coal to fuel their steel industry which they then turn around and sell to the US, but again, Trump can simply exempt Brazil and likely do so quietly without much fanfare, and he can craft this law as he sees fit. In the coming months we will see his plan unfolding and if he has crafted it well by strong planning, then I guess I will put this in the "intelligent move" category, but if it's poorly executed, then I suppose it was just an impulsive thing he did without proper planning, and this will fit the "blind squirrel ...." category.