Trump insists tariffs will buoy economy but for now, he's on damage control

Bailout of US farmers, talks on cost of living woes among moves to contain fallout

- David E. Sanger

On US President Donald Trump's proclaimed "Liberation Day" in April, when he announced the tariffs that have upended global trade, he vowed that "jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country".

The imposition of taxes on imports, the President promised, "will pry open foreign markets and break down foreign trade barriers", leading to lower prices for Americans.

So far it has not worked out that way, forcing Mr Trump to move to contain the economic and political damage.

At the White House on Dec 8, the President announced US$12 billion (S$15.6 billion) in bailout money for America's farmers who have been battered in large part by his trade policies.

Tariffs continue to put upward pressure on prices, putting the Trump administration on the defensive over deep public concern about the cost of living.

On Dec 9, the President was set to go to Pennsylvania for the first of what the White House calls a series of speeches addressing the "affordability" problem, which last week he dismissed as "the greatest con job" ever conceived by Democrats.

China, the world's second-largest economy and the US' main economic and technological competitor, released figures on Dec 8 showing that it continues to run a record trade surplus with the rest of the world, even as its overall trade and surplus with the US narrow.

That suggests Beijing is quickly learning how to thrive even in a world in which the US becomes a tougher place to do business.

And there is scant evidence to date of any wholesale return to American towns and cities of the manufacturing jobs lost to decades of automation and globalisation.

Mr Trump continues to blame his predecessor, former US president Joe Biden, for every economic woe, though the argument is getting thinner and thinner as he approaches, in just six weeks, his first anniversary in office.