The Media is Calling the Shots in the Tariff War

The media is sensationalizing the escalation in hostilities between China and the U.S. while ignoring the 70 countries that have already lined up to negotiate with us. - Elizabeth Stauffer 

Politico‘s Playbook is a widely-read, twice-daily briefing that provides concise summaries of the day’s top stories. 

Anyone who read the Wednesday morning edition could be forgiven for calling their stockbroker and telling them to sell everything in their portfolio. 

It began:

HE REALLY DID IT: President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs came into force at midnight, and this morning we awaken to a different world. The free trade system that America has embraced and nurtured since the mid-1930s has been officially torpedoed by direct order of the president...It’s unclear exactly how quickly these and many others tariffs will filter through to product pricing and consumer demand … but filter through they surely will.

Politico mistakenly characterizes the current state of global trade as a “free trade system that America has embraced and nurtured since the mid-1930s.” 

In reality, the widespread use of tariffs and non-tariff barriers by most countries makes today’s system anything but free—particularly for the United States...