Joe Weisenthal
The weird thing about people saying this is that we've already established -- The White House has admitted it! -- that we didn't base our tariff rates on actual tariffs imposed by other countries. So where does this idea come from that this effort will get other barriers dropped?
Patrick
I’m bullish. I think the American consumer is the only consumer globally that consistently matters. Everyone else is either too poor, economically volatile, or small to matter. That means the US has more leverage than we think in getting other countries to drop tarrifs on our goods. Other countries need our consumption more than we need theirs and should buckle under pressure.