President Trump threatens 200% tariffs on alcohol from the EU
President Donald Trump threatened to place 200% tariffs on all alcohol from the European Union.
WASHINGTON – For some, President Donald Trump is shaking things. For others, he wings an extraordinary amount of confusion and confusion in a world that has become accustomed to confusion.
Less than two months later, Trump had demolished the agency, fired tens of thousands of government workers, and then hired hundreds of government workers because he had been doing important jobs to manage the country’s nuclear weapons.
His trade approach – announcing sudden, dramatic tariffs on certain imports, halting duties and threatening to impose new ones later – has thrown financial markets into tailspin. US stocks rebounded on Friday after a turbulent week fueled by fears over Trump’s trade war escalation and fears of a recession, but still recorded a fourth consecutive week of losses.
Trump and Republicans have urged perseverance, claiming that stock market turbulence is temporary and that all his destructive measures will be rewarded in the long term. The GOP lawmaker is willing to give the new president the bounty of doubt, saying he is only in his office for a few weeks and needs more time to know the full impact of his policies.
“He’s just finished and in office, what, 50 days? House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spoke to reporters earlier this week, told reporters earlier this week: “Give the president the opportunity to deploy these policies.”
Democrats have warned that the chaos created by Trump could cause long-term damage to the economy and accusing people he said he would protect during the 2024 presidential election.
“Donald Trump is just giving billionaires like Elon Musk a free ride as he has wreaked havoc on the federal government and our economy as a whole, and millions of hardworking people rely on federal programs,” said Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider.
“I believe the costs of Trump’s disruptive economy lie in virtually every aspect of life,” Schneider said.
Angry voters appear at GOP’s town hall, cutting cuts organized by Trump and Musk, the owner of automaker Tesla’s billionaires and presidential advisers who are leading the miniaturization efforts through the government’s new efficiency.
Trump’s poll numbers began to slide, and GOP leaders urged lawmakers to stop holding City Hall, and during last year’s election, Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz, the Democratic candidate for the vice president, began holding events in Republican states and Congressional districts to emphasize that Trump Cuttt would empower him.
Democrats are already looking for faint hope in the 2028 presidential election, where there is an opportunity to reclaim the White House. Several prominent Democrats have been mentioned as possible candidates, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Trump last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Transport Secretary Pete Battigieg and Kentucky Gov. Andy Besher, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, Trump claims that his approach is the right one and that the US is on the right track.
“I think this country is booming,” he told reporters from the White House South Lawn on Tuesday. He was a lot of cars at Tesla and Mask support shows.
“I can do that in an easy or difficult way,” Trump said. “The hard way to do that is exactly what I do. But the outcome is 20 times bigger.”
The fear of Trump’s movements being “too uneasy”
Economist Chris Rafakis said the Trump administration’s approach to economic policy is unusual.
“This is not what I saw as a professional economist,” said Rafakis, director of Moody’s Analysis.
Under federal law, regulations change includes a multi-step process, including suggesting new rules, inducing and assessing feedback, and developing policies.
But the speed and scale of what Trump is doing is working in his favor, said GOP strategist Mike Duheim, former Politician Director of the Republican National Committee.
“Trump came out at a fierce pace, which was positive for him as he didn’t know where his detractors should focus,” Duheim said.
The president, who took office in January, is still in the honeymoon phase and has some room with the public to prove his approach works, Dujaime said.
The White House claims that Trump’s approach is already working.
“President Trump will bring historic job, wage and investment growth in his first term and will do so again in his second term,” spokesman Kush Desai said.
However, there are indications that many Americans are tired.
57% of those polled in the Reuters/Ipsos poll released Wednesday said Trump was too unstable in his move to shake the economy. Approximately 70% of respondents (including nine in 10 Democrats and six in 10 Republicans) expect higher tariffs to make food and other regular purchases more expensive.
Trump’s poll numbers have also been immersed in the wake of economic concerns. The Quinnipiac University vote released on Thursday brought his approval rate to 42%, down from 45% a month ago. His disapproval rating was 53%;
“Voters are waiting to see if their tariff strategies work or backfire,” Duheim said. “But they’re starting to worry.”
The same can be said for Trump’s foreign policy approach, Duhaime said.
In the third year of its war with Russia, Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire plan negotiated by US officials last week. The agreement comes after weeks of criticism by Trump at the Ukrainian President Voldimir Zelenky school. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of his country’s neighbors, sparked the conflict, said on Thursday that he would not immediately agree to a ceasefire because he wanted to see “enduring peace” that removes the “fundamental cause” of the crisis.
It’s too early to know if Trump’s foreign policy movements work or are popular, Duheim added in the summer that “the president owns ‘economic and foreign policy successes’.”
The GOP holds a small majority in both the House and Senate, and is pushing hard to enact Trump’s agenda before the focus changes to next year’s midterm elections.
R-Texas Rep. Troy Nehls said that no one should be surprised that Trump is doing because he follows the promises of the campaign.
While many Americans are watching the chaos, Neels said he is precisely executing the agenda Trump laid out at the 2024 presidential contest.
The president can do more because he has a team around him that he trusts, said Nairs, an avid Trump supporter who wore a t-shirt decorated with Trump mugshots for Joe Biden’s final coalition speech last year.
Mark Short, who served as Chief of Staff for former Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s first term, said he believes that much of Trump’s agenda is popular and points to a movement on immigration and a reduction in the size of the government.
“I think the big outlier on that is his trade policy,” Short said.
Announcement of tariffs and then suspending them suggests that Trump “is not entirely confident that these policies will work,” Short said. Trump’s approach appears to be “very whimsical,” but Short added, he pointed out that the president was also very “unpredictable” during his first term.
The spending cuts identified by Musk and his team have increased confusion, along with massive layoffs, government-wide emails and agency dismantling. This week, the Department of Education, which Trump vowed to eliminate, cut its workforce in half, fired around 1,300 workers, and left the agency to fulfill its legally mandated responsibilities.
A federal judge in California ordered the administration on Thursday to revive tens of thousands of probation workers fired in six divisions. San Francisco US District Judge William Alsup said the way workers were fired was illegal.
Trump also choreographed some strange moments since he took office. More recently, he has promoted Tesla vehicles at his White House event along with Musk, the company’s founder. Musk’s efforts sparked protests at Tesla dealers. Some dealers have been destroyed. The company’s stocks have been immersed.
Pushed back, Trump warned at a White House event that violence against Tesla would be labeled domestic terrorism.
With a twist, some of Trump’s moves aim to revoke the Clean Air Rules enacted by Biden, and to encourage Americans to buy more electric vehicles like mask companies make.
“I think one anecdote was very surreal and ironic,” Short said of the Tesla White House event. “Because conservatives have long been opposed to subsidies from taxpayers who support the electric vehicle business. Still, they wouldn’t have had a greater promotion than holding events on the White House lawn.”
“A little bumpy” but “has faith”
Nails claimed that the media overestimated the confusion caused by Trump’s tariffs and the firing of federal workers, and “scaring people.” He pointed to Trump’s comments on the Congressional joint session on March 4th.
“Trump made it very clear…it’s going to be a bit bumpy, but I have faith and confidence to know what he’s doing, and that’s going to be fine,” Nairs said.
Nehls predicted the market would bounce back and said the policy was a key step towards fair trading and revitalizing American manufacturing.
For many conservatives, the move Trump is making is a long-standing dream come true.
Tina Descovich, co-founder of the conservative activist group Moms for Liberty, spoke about eliminating the Department of Education when she ran for the Brevard County, Florida school board almost a decade ago. Last week she called department staff and received a briefing on the cuts before it was made public.
Deepcut has raised questions about how the US government implements various educational programs, but Deskovic argued that they were done in a “thoughtful way” to protect essential functions.
More broadly, she said, she offers a well-thought-out agenda for Trump. She noted that Trump’s allies have developed a policy plan that they will implement for years when he returns to power, and are now rolling out them.
“Change is always difficult for people,” Deskovic said. Deskovic was recently at the White House when Trump signed an executive order banning women’s competition in sports.
But the changes Trump is offering are beneficial, she said.
“The bureaucratic nightmare, the swamp in DC is hard to kill,” Deskovic said, but Trump said, “It’s killing swamps. And that’s what America wants in the end. It doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a bit of a pain at times. It doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a bit of a bump. But it’s necessary for our powerful American future.”
Contribution: Sudiksha kochi
Follow Zac Anderson on X @zacjanderson and Collins @mcollinsnews
