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‘We’re Playing With Fire’: The Risks of Trump’s Tariffs on China
Binyamin Appelbaum on the president’s rushed and rash trade war.
In this episode of “The Opinions,” the deputy Opinion editor, Patrick Healy, talks to Binyamin Appelbaum about the goals of President Trump’s tariffs and the risks they pose to America’s place in the global order.
‘We’re Playing With Fire’: The Risks of Trump’s Tariffs on China
Binyamin Appelbaum on the president’s rushed and rash trade war.
Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYT Audio app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Patrick Healy: I’m Patrick Healy, deputy editor of New York Times Opinion, and this is The First 100 Days, a weekly series examining President Trump’s use of power and his drive to change America. And that drive has certainly been on display over the last week.
Trump’s tariffs have already cost the world trillions of dollars, and now America is in a trade war with China. We hit them with tariffs; they’ve hit us back. The European Union is starting to retaliate, too. To unpack all this, I asked my colleague Binyamin Appelbaum to join me today. He covers economics for Opinion.
Binya, thanks for being here.
Binyamin Appelbaum: Glad to be here.
Healy: During the election season, you wrote editorials warning voters of the dangers of Trump’s economic plans, including tariffs. When Trump announced the details of his tariffs last week, I think a lot of people were puzzled and even surprised by the scale, scope and approach. Did anything surprise you?
