President Trump’s son Eric warned the world’s countries that they don’t want to be the last to negotiate a trade deal. “The first to negotiate will win,” he wrote on X Thursday, “the last will absolutely lose.”
I wouldn’t want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with @realDonaldTrump. The first to negotiate will win - the last will absolutely lose. I have seen this movie my entire life…
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) April 3, 2025
The President declared Wednesday, April 2, Liberation Day — the day he imposed reciprocal tariffs on countries that have unfairly charged us tariffs for decades with no repercussions. The president’s offer to these countries is ingenious: You control the tariffs. If you eliminate your tariffs, we will eliminate ours. If you reduce your tariffs, we will do the same.
It’s all a negotiation, and I see Eric Trump’s warning as part of that negotiation. He’s egging countries on to make a deal while they still can.
This is quite a gambit on Trump’s part. He’s promoted the idea of reciprocal tariffs for decades. Now he’s president and can give his ideas a try. He’s counting on America’s giant economy to weather the storm better than smaller economies like Canada, Mexico, and those in Europe. His messaging has been dead on.
To those who claim tariffs will destroy our economy he asks, Why haven’t high tariffs destroyed the economies of the countries who have had them for decades?
To those who claim tariffs will hurt American corporations overseas he says, They can pay zero tariffs by doing business in the United States.
His best argument, however, is what “free trade” has done to the working class, to countless towns and cities, to two generations of men who have lost so much with the implosion of our manufacturing base. American companies flee to a country like Vietnam, hire dirt-cheap labor because they can get away with it, and export their product with zero tariffs while American companies who pay a fair wage are hit with tariffs on their Vietnam imports.
Meanwhile, instead of boys learning how to become men by working with men in American factories, they are stuck behind a cash register learning nothing.
Trump doesn’t want tariffs. All he is doing is using tariffs to 1) get these other countries to drop their tariffs and/or 2) motivate American companies to move back to the United States and hire Americans.
Basically, on Liberation Day the president unplugged the American economy and then plugged it back in. He’s rebooting our economy at the expense of Wall Street to benefit a decimated working class.
I was a strident free trader for decades. Cheap goods benefited everyone, I believed. And keep in mind, that’s all this is about: cheap goods. Wall Street loves dirt-cheap labor because it increases the bottom line and the all-important stock price. Wall Street loves the Democrat Party because Democrats want the working class decimated. It’s a culture they can’t stand and a way to make another class of Americans dependent on government.
I’m not rich. I feel price hikes. A good portion of my unimpressive retirement savings is in the stock market. I have real skin in this game, but our economy needs a reboot and this one makes sense to me.
Finally, when Democrats and their media minions scream about what these tariffs might cost the average American, keep the following in mind: These same Democrats complaining about a 20-percent tariff would be fine if it were a 20-percent tax. What’s the difference, you ask? Only the Bad Orange Man.
John Nolte’s first and last novel, Borrowed Time, is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here. Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook.
