President is not an economic superhero

WASHINGTON — President Trump yesterday gave himself a new name — Tariff Man — in an attempt to evoke a superhero-like image of America’s protector from the nasty foreign countries. He vowed to make our enemies pay, literally. Unfortunately, the truth is Trump’s Kryptonite.

The tweet in which he gave himself the new moniker was meant as a warning shot to China. It came just as U.S. investors and companies believed that an outright trade war with China might be averted.

Trump had announced a temporary deal, and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said Trump was a “trade reformer” who wanted “zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies.” The economy breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Trump couldn’t help himself.

“I am a Tariff Man,” he tweeted. “When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so.”

Aside from Twitter quickly lampooning the president by coming up with a host of lyrics about the downfall of the U.S. economy, set to the tune of classics like “Piano Man,” “Iron Man,” and possibly Trump’s favorite, “Rocket Man” — the U.S. markets took a nosedive.

Clearly investors understand something the president chooses to ignore: the costs of tariffs on foreign imports are passed on to American consumers. So essentially Trump is threatening to punish Americans for what he sees as transgressions by foreign trade partners.

That is not a great look for the president who campaigned on boosting the economy and being the hero to those who have not felt the steady economic gains over the last decade in their pocketbooks.

With every escalation of the tensions with China over trade, I’m reminded of what a Chinese Foreign Ministry official told me in June in Beijing when the trade war was burgeoning: China will not bend.

“I don’t believe China will surrender,” Yu Dunhai, a counselor at the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. “If there is a trade war, China will fight to the end.”

Nothing indicates China has changed its view. So Trump will need greater superpowers than his Twitter feed and a quick tariff trigger finger to win this battle on behalf of the American consumer.