What's his game plan? On Saturday, President Donald Trump threatened to impose 30 percent tariffs on Mexico and all European Union countries, for seemingly no reason whatsoever.
"Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough," Trump wrote in a letter to Mexico's president. "Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground." (I suppose that's a reason, but if his expectation was that Mexico could just stop cartels between April's tariff announcement and now, that seems like an unrealistic goal.)
Trump has told 25 different foreign nations that he will impose new tariff levels—some higher, but some lower—on August 1. Some of them are rather aggressive increases, such as Brazil's tariff level, which has gone from 10 percent to 50 percent. Others, such as Bangladesh's drop from 37 percent to 35 percent, are a slight reprieve.
