My guess is that Trump is imposing steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico just to show that he can — that it’s essentially a dominance display. And the many people pointing out that it’s a terrible idea probably only reinforced his determination to show that he’s in charge and smarter than anyone else.
What about letting China off easy? We know that Elon Musk has strong business reasons for wanting to treat China gently. Back in November Politico Europe wrote: "The reelection of Donald Trump is threatening to tip U.S.-China relations into a downward spiral of trade tariffs and escalating international spats, with Europe stuck in the middle.
But China thinks it has an ace in its back pocket that could help keep Trump’s more robust policies in check: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose company depends on good ties with the Asian country."
(I’ll place that Politico link which Krugman is quoting next.)
“Tesla cannot exist without China,” said Cornel Ban, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School, who studies electric vehicle investments in China.
That reality makes Musk’s efforts to balance his ties with the tariff-loving Trump and with Chinese officials crucial — both to his company and to the broader relationship between Washington and Beijing.
“There won’t be a big conflict between the U.S. and China so long as Musk is in the White House,” Ban said.
More intrigue from a bluesky re-post which opens to a young man explaining the ties between Matt Gaetz and Jamil Jivani. We know how much Trump loathes Trudeau, especially after his wife, Melania, flirted with Trudeau with Trump standing right there: