“Hairline Fracture or Clean Break?” asks IP attorney and author Timothy Trainer
This isn’t about an accident involving the need for medical attention. Nor does this refer to a marriage with problems. Headlines can grab attention when they include words like “crazier than they thought” in reference to businesspeople saying that about the president. Trump business allies reeling as they realize ‘he is crazier than they thought’: analysis – Raw Story (April 16, 2025). Apparently, within the business world, the supposed businessman at the helm seems crazy to some of his fellow executives.
Reading something like this should raise lots of eyebrows. One serious question to ask is whether the greed factor of many executives is so great that they ignored or overlooked so many warning signs pointing to the negative effects on the country and its people. Why are business leaders surprised? Aren’t they old enough to remember Trump’s first term? Didn’t they see how tariffs during that first term fell far short of the stated goals of the businessman in chief?
The reaction of the business world is not limited to U.S. executives. Globally, there is a massive shift that may be underway and unstoppable. The tariff impositions and threats from Washington have had a tidal wave effect. China’s leader is not blind to things happening outside of China, and the United States, as a headline on April 16 read: China Pounces as Trump Turns on Europe. China pounces as Trump turns on Europe. The Telegraph article states that the “trade war has given China the chance to shake off its image as the rogue giant of global trade and investment, and appear as a pillar of stability in contrast to a volatile and unpredictable US.” Unfortunately, it’s hard to argue with this point in view of Trump’s constantly changing position on tariffs.
Every day seems to bring new rounds of chaos as the guessing game continues in April. Given all the announcements this month, referencing a chart like the one provided by NBC News is needed to keep up with these announcements. Trump tariff timeline: How the U.S. turned global trade into an economic battlefield.
- The April 2nd announcement of 10% tariffs for the world was followed by the April 3rd announcement of an additional 25% on auto parts.
- On April 8th, an additional 50% tariff went into effect for Chinese goods, with an additional 21% added the next day, along with an announced 90-day reprieve for the rest of the world regarding the 10% announced on April 2nd.
- On April 11th, tariff exemptions were announced for electronic products, Smartphones and computers are now exempt from Trump’s latest tariffs | CNN Business, though these exemptions might be lifted at an announced time, injecting instability into the news of the electronics goods reprieve.
With China, the European Union, and other governments looking to bolster their trade and economic relationships without the U.S., it should make everyone think about the future economic health and stability in the U.S. Moreover, with China’s announced bans of exports of rare earth minerals along with a government order to stop acquiring Boeing planes, the trade war takes on a new dimension far beyond just tariffs, i.e., prices of goods.
In addition, hints at foreign governments not seeing the U.S. as an economically stable place to invest are likely to result in other types of economic pain in the form of higher interest rates for homes, cars, and other products. What you need to know about the sell-off of ‘safe haven’ US bonds | AP News. Thus, while the U.S. has sought in recent years to have our companies become less reliant on China by moving facilities back to the U.S., the current overall picture of the world is that foreign governments do not see the U.S. as a stable and reliable place to place bets on and continue financing U.S. debt thereby moving away from us. It is unrealistic to believe that the U.S. can maintain the kind of standard of living and comfort we’ve become accustomed to by implementing policies that drive away governments that provide the economic support necessary for the U.S. to thrive.
As the rest of the world reassesses its economic links to the U.S., the question is whether the injury is a minor hairline fracture or if trading partners are looking for a clean break. Unless more serious and thoughtful decisions are made and soon, this is likely to be a self-inflicted injury that may require lots of micro-level hardware to fix to keep things together.
