8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

IIRC the Roman Emperor Caligula was claimed to have appointed a horse to the post of Consul. He was also noted for extravagant spending on showy pageants.

 

Trump is America's Caligula, it will be interesting to see how many parallels arise.

Your imagination has no limits.  I think you are going to be greatly disappointed.

2 hours ago, Hawaiian said:

Your imagination has no limits.  I think you are going to be greatly disappointed.

Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

 

The chaos of the first Trump presidency has been conveniently forgotten by most. Selective memory of purported achievements has been substituted.

 

It would be good if I was disappointed.

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

 

The chaos of the first Trump presidency has been conveniently forgotten by most. Selective memory of purported achievements has been substituted.

 

It would be good if I was disappointed.

I think he has learned something from the past and despite some of his alarming statements he will not act on them.  Already his threat of tariffs seems to be bringing both Canada and Mexico to the table.

And have you noticed, Xi has been unusually quiet.  He knows how damaging more tariffs will be to the already slowing Chinese economy. 

Yes, I hope I am right and you will be disappointed.

8 minutes ago, Hawaiian said:

I think he has learned something from the past and despite some of his alarming statements he will not act on them.  Already his threat of tariffs seems to be bringing both Canada and Mexico to the table.

And have you noticed, Xi has been unusually quiet.  He knows how damaging more tariffs will be to the already slowing Chinese economy. 

Yes, I hope I am right and you will be disappointed.

IIRC the Mexican president told Trump to put his tariffs where the sun doesn't shine.

 

Canada has a positive balance of payments with the USA, quite apart from America importing 52% of its petroleum from there.

 

As for Xi, the US debt is $800 billion. If that were called in, it would probably break American hegemony, as far as being the reserve currency goes.

 

Trump lost the last trade war with China - badly. American farmers needed massive subsidies to placate them.

 

You may be right, it's just threats. If he acts on them, it's going to get ugly - for everyone.

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

IIRC the Mexican president told Trump to put his tariffs where the sun doesn't shine.

 

Canada has a positive balance of payments with the USA, quite apart from America importing 52% of its petroleum from there.

 

As for Xi, the US debt is $800 billion. If that were called in, it would probably break American hegemony, as far as being the reserve currency goes.

 

Trump lost the last trade war with China - badly. American farmers needed massive subsidies to placate them.

 

You may be right, it's just threats. If he acts on them, it's going to get ugly - for everyone.

Mexico's president told Trump that there would be reciprocal tariffs which would do serious harm to the American auto industry.  I don't think she was quite as blunt as you describe.

One poster suggested Trump levy a tax on remittances from the U.S. to Mexico.  These monies contribute 4.2%, or $61 billion to Mexico's GDP. 

It is interesting that Trudeau showed up at Mar-a-Lago uninvited.  What conversation took place, we really don't know.

Yes, China holds $749 billion of American debt, but attempting to redeem this would cause a lot of turmoil in the financial markets.  It would cause a disruption in worldwide trade, including that of China's biggest customers.

Guess we have to see what unfolds next.