by
David
Becker/Getty
Images)
During
his
first
term
as
president,
Donald
Trump
was
frustrated
by
the
government.
When
Trump
wanted
to
do
things
—
he
was,
after
all,
the
president!
—
he
couldn’t.
Congress
got
in
the
way.
Or
the
courts
got
in
the
way.
Or
the
deep
state.
Trump
wanted
to
be
an
unencumbered
president,
but
the
Constitution
restrained
him.
Trump
is
much
smarter
now.
He’s
figured
out
how
to
be
king.
Previous
presidents
typically
used
tariffs
sparingly
as
a
way
to
regulate
trade.
Trump
has
now
realized
that
tariffs
are
a
way
to
regulate
essentially
anything
—
without
the
rest
of
government
getting
in
the
way.
Presidents
have
broad
discretion
to
dictate
tariff
rates
and
the
goods
and
countries
to
which
tariffs
should
apply.
Previous
presidents
viewed
tariffs
as
a
tool
of
international
trade.
Trump
has
thrown
off
that
restraint;
he
views
tariffs
as
a
tool
with
which
to
bludgeon
any
country
that
won’t
do
the
president’s
bidding.
Given
the
United
States’
economic
strength,
other
countries
have
essentially
no
choice
but
to
do
as
Trump
commands.
Colombia,
for
example,
refused
to
accept
certain
American
flights
transporting
immigrants
who
were
being
deported.
What
would
be
a
good
mechanism
to
coerce
Colombia
to
do
what
Trump
wanted?
Tariffs!
Trump
threatened
to
impose
a
25%
tariff;
Colombia
agreed
to
accept
the
immigrants.
Trump
thinks
Canada
and
Mexico
should
do
more
to
police
their
borders
with
the
United
States
and
should
keep
fentanyl
from
entering
the
country. If
Canada
and
Mexico
won’t
do
Trump’s
bidding,
what’s
the
answer?
Tariffs!
Congress
can’t
(or
won’t)
interfere;
the
courts
can’t
interfere;
the
deep
state
can’t
interfere.
Canada
and
Mexico
can
be
bludgeoned
into
submission
by
Trump
acting
unilaterally.
Trump
wants
to
take
the
Panama
Canal
back
from
Panama.
If
Panama
won’t
cooperate,
what
do
you
suppose
the
solution
might
be?
Tariffs!
Instant
coercion.
Trump
would
like
Greenland
to
become
part
of
the
United
States. If
Greenland
and
Denmark
refuse
to
cooperate,
there’s
an
easy
solution: Tariffs! Coerced
by
the
threat
(or
reality)
of
punishing
tariffs,
it’s
remarkable
how
quickly
other
countries
become
cooperative.
Why
should
Trump
stop
there?
Suppose
Trump
would
like
other
countries
to
buy
more
American
goods.
If
the
countries
refuse,
threaten
tariffs!
They’ll
cooperate.
Suppose
the
United
States
would
like
to
station
troops
on
another
country’s
land.
If
the
country
refuses,
threaten
tariffs!
Instant
cooperation.
I’m
not
sure
that
even
Trump
would
have
the
nerve
to
do
this,
but
suppose
a
country
wouldn’t
allow
Trump
to
develop
a
hotel
that
he
wanted
to
build.
How
could
that
country
be
coerced
into
cooperating?
Tariffs!
Why
not?
This
would
look
(and
smell)
pretty
bad,
but
it
would
surely
do
the
trick.
Tariffs
are
the
solution
to
everything.
This
is,
of
course,
a
dangerous
game
to
play.
First,
this
is
guaranteed
to
hurt
American
exports.
Any
country
will
now
have
to
be
insane
to
trade
with
the
United
States
in
a
way
that
makes
the
country
dependent
on
American
goodwill.
The
world
now
knows
that
the
United
States
will
take
advantage
of
its
trade
position
to
coerce
other
countries
to
do
its
bidding.
The
lesson
is
clear:
Don’t
rely
on
the
U.S.;
diversify
your
trading
partners.
Second,
countries,
like
individuals,
do
not
take
kindly
to
being
bullied.
A
98-pound
weakling
will
accept
bullying
when
there’s
no
choice,
but
the
victim
may
ultimately
stand
up
to
the
bully.
Countries
can,
for
example,
act
collectively.
Perhaps
Colombia,
by
itself,
can’t
stand
up
to
the
United
States,
but
Latin
America
as
a
whole
has
more
power. The
region
could
collectively
impose
retaliatory
tariffs
on
the
United
States. The
United
States
would
feel
that
pain.
So,
too,
for
Europe. The
United
States
may
be
able
to
bludgeon
Denmark
alone,
but
the
calculus
would
be
different
if
all
of
Europe
chose
to
retaliate
against
Trump’s
bullying.
Or,
if
collective
action
is
not
possible
(or
desirable),
countries
could
change
their
trading
partners
to
do
business
with
countries
that
the
United
States
fears
(or
is
currently
trying
to
punish). Colombia
now
trades
with
the
United
States. But
if
the
United
States
is
a
bully,
then
China
would
surely
be
delighted
to
trade
with
Colombia
on
more
reasonable
terms.
Bullying
folks
might
work
in
the
short
term,
but
it’s
unlikely
to
work
in
the
long
term.
Now
that
Trump
has
figured
out
how
to
be
king,
he
will
surely
throw
his
weight
around. But,
to
the
country’s
detriment,
bullying
may
ultimately
be
exposed
for
what
it
is.
Mark Herrmann spent
17
years
as
a
partner
at
a
leading
international
law
firm
and
later
oversaw
litigation,
compliance
and
employment
matters
at
a
large
international
company.
He
is
the
author
of The
Curmudgeon’s
Guide
to
Practicing
Law and Drug
and
Device
Product
Liability
Litigation
Strategy (affiliate
links).
You
can
reach
him
by
email
at [email protected].