Last night, when I happened to be up for a brief period during the night, I idly turned on YouTube and stumbled across a fascinating podcast by Alastair Campbell (ex-Labour communications chief) and Rory Stewart (ex-Tory minister and one time governor of a province in Iraq). They make a fascinating pair, probably with a mutual admiration for each other, and their podcast was so good I might try and tune into them a bit more regularly to follow their observations. One of them had gleaned the following observation upon the Trump tariffs from a world trade expert to the effect that 'The proposed changes to the tariffs to be imposed globally bear as much relation to economic realty as creationism does to biology or astrology does to astronomy' One of the utter madnesses behind the Trump tariff walls is that the figures only relate to manufactured or physical goods and take no account of the service revenues that accrue to large companies such as Apple, MicroSoft and Google )which are, of course. considerable) There are also rumours, not denied, that the UK may exempt some of these companies from the 2% Digital Services tax as a 'quid pro quo' for a new tariff agreement with the USA which would be the terrible concession to make. But the fascinating part of their podcast were their insights int the new world order that may emerge. Their guess was that Canada would form a close association with Europe probably by in effect joining the Customs Union and the UK would follow on their coat-tails, with Australia, New Zealand and Japan and several other Asian economies joining in. After all, if you are clearing up after the 'bull in the china shop' (what an appropriate analogy, by the way) you do not need to put the various pieces that survive back into the place that they once occupied. The two podcasters made the interesting observation, shared by some other commentators, that the Trump tariff regime is not about economics at all. They make the point that Trump is first and foremost a showman as well as being extremely egotistical. Hence his announcement in the White House garden of the various tariffs that were about to imposed on practically on country on earth (but not Russia!) meant that most countries in the world, not to mention the major corporations, were hanging on Trump's every word and he was loving every second of it. In his attempt to re-industrialise America, Trump might not be at all unhappy about wrecking other parts of the world economy as, in a paradoxical sense, it reinforces his self-belief as a president who is changing not only America but the whole of the world economic order.
Given the economic reconstructions that have to take place in the major western economies following this bout of severe American protectionism, then a nimble footed government could introduce all kinds of policy changes that might otherwise be hard to get through the political system. But there are indications that even erstwhile Trump backers are starting to appreciate the economic madness that is being wrought. Billionaire Trump backer warns business investment 'will grind to a halt over economic nuclear war.' Ackman, who endorsed Donald Trump's run for president, said the president is losing the confidence of business leaders - and should pause his trade war. In a lengthy post on social media, the billionaire fund manager wrote: 'The president has an opportunity to call a 90-day time out. That's to give time to resolve any trade issues through negotiation. If, on the other hand... we launch economic nuclear war on every country in the world, business investment will grind to a halt. Consumers will close their wallets and pocket books, and we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate'
Yesterday morning did not exactly go as planned. It did not start well when the carers thought that Meg may be suffering from an infection and also reporting the unwelcome news that the deep tissue injury on Meg's heel might be showing signs of breaking down. So my first reaction was to make an urgent call to the District Nurses to apply a dressing to Meg's heel(s) and then I needed to utilise the webform which is the way in which requests the assistance of a doctor in today's conditions. Just after breakfast, the postman delivered a parcel for Meg which was not expected but when I opened it up, it contained two large medical bootees which were designed to wrap around the heel/foot to help with the deep tissue injury. I was just on my way out to collect a newspaper when the District Nurse turned up and thought that Meg's heel did not look in too bad a condition but fitted the bootees as I shall call them to Meg's feet. Shortly afterwards, I did get a phone call from a doctor whose name I did not recognise who fitted the track record of being of useful as a chocolate teapot. Without suggesting that she would make a call to see Meg she indicated that she would prescribe some antibiotics and offered not very helpful advice how to get food and drink inside Meg. So, we shall probably have to wait at least a couple of days for the antibiotics to arrive through the post (I cannot leave Meg in order to get a prescription dispensed) so I am just hoping the infection does not worsen until the antibiotics have time to arrive. In the meanwhile, the carers came in the middle of the day but now had Meg's bootees to take into account whilst they were making her comfortable.
It was reported mid-afternoon that Donald Trump is considering a 90-day pause in tariffs for all countries except China, according to the president's top economic adviser. It is still too easy to make an assessment whether this is somewhat of a 'U' turn on Trump's part, but it is certainly the case that some of our economic and financial elites are starting to worry about the potential damage to the world economy. Some leading bankers and large investors met over the weekend and one wonders whether the international banking community will withdraw support and succour to the American regime.
© Mike Hart [2025]