Magaland is having its faith in St Donald sorely tested

There was a Trump loyalist on the radio on) Thursday morning trying to explain the' whiplash-inducing U-turn on tariffs the night before. He said that what the US president wanted was for the world to sit up and take notice of him.

- JON SOPEL

Well, if that’s the benchmark of success, then give the man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a straight A+. Yes, everyone is sitting up.

The other way of interpreting those remarks is to say that President Trump is an endless attention-seeker. And though this is far from the most important thing to note from the past dizzying 10 days since “Liberation Day”, it has played a part – and invariably made things worse.

Donald Trump loves the TV cameras. He can’t help but provide the world with a running commentary on what he’s doing. The Rose Garden theatricality, complete with a bingo board of tariffs, felt as though he was auditioning to be a game-show host – but in fact, it was just another episode of The Trump Show.

Just imagine how much more might have been achieved if he had sought to conduct his tariff negotiations in private, with – yes – threats of what might be in store for those who didn’t play ball. Instead, he went for fanfare... and spooked the hell out of markets across the planet.

We were told he would brook no opposition; the “medicine” – the surgery, even – had to be administered, after America had been “raped and pillaged” by the rest of the world.

That’s why Madagascar would have to pay tariffs. Sorry. What? Why? Well, because Madagascar sold chocolate to America, and the Madagascans didn’t buy much in return. Maybe because they’re too poor? And then there were the tariffs imposed on Guadeloupe and Martinique, which were different from the ones applied to the EU – even though these two Caribbean islands are part of France.

It was all so sloppy and rushed, almost as though it mattered more to announce it within the first 100 days than to get it right.