–As I understand it, Trump’s theory of trade, which appears to me to be the functional equivalent of belief in phlogiston or that the earth is flat, is that if you have a trade surplus with another country you are an economic winner; if you have a deficit you’re a loser. Therefore, erecting tariff barriers that prevent foreign goods from entering your country will de facto make you better off.
Why, then, should your first trade agreement be to raise tariffs that will reduce dealings with the UK, a country with whom the US enjoys–until now, anyway, a trade surplus. Sounds very shoot-yourself-in-the-foot-ish.
–the new pope is an American. If press reports are correct, he’s not a fan of the LGBTQ+ community and doesn’t want to allow women to become priests (in contrast to the Episcopal church, where over half the priests in the US are women and sexual orientation isn’t an issue, provided you’re open about it and monogamous). On the other hand, he’s apparently a champion for migrant rights. I wonder whether the latter is why he was elected, and so quickly. If so, is this is the first step in the Vatican signaling disapproval of Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-Latin America policies, and the massive support for Trump that American Catholics showed in the presidential election.