Earl Ofari Hutchinson
This is Earl Ofari Hutchinson. Welcome to another edition of the Hutchinson Report Commentary. April first, not April Fool’s Day, although for some it might be. 25. The question, why is Donald Trump so obsessed with tariffs? It’s not just about money. We’ve heard much talk in the great debate, the issues and discussion about terrorists US. We’ve heard this, the rationale being threefold. One, trade balance.
We are a tremendous deficit with European nations, China, Mexico, Canada. Therefore, we’ve got to level the playing field. Rationale number one. Rationale number two, bring manufacturing back to the US. They fled this country, the manufacturers. They’ve gone to all of the other countries in the world because of what? Cheap wages, cheap labor, regulations, almost nonexistent, environmental protections, almost nonexistent. It’s a good business climate there. So why not be there wherever the there is and not in the good old US, Trump says, Bring manufacturing back to this country, creating jobs, taxes, and all those other kinds of economic bountiful effects that manufacturing and business in the US will bring to it. And then The third thing, which is not really discussed, but this is where we say it’s not just about money.
It’s really about Trump. Power, dominance, and ego. Let’s walk through the three. Power and dominance first. The fact of the matter is, Trump sees the US, I. E. Donald Trump, as being in the driver’s seat, controlling, showing the European nations, showing China, showing Mexico, showing Canada, who’s the boss? Who is the global boss who will dominate not only economically, but politically and call the shots. Another part of that is, it’s Trump’s ego. If I can essentially bring nations to heal, to do at the can call and do the bidding of the US, I. E. Donald Trump, I, again, I am the supremo when it comes to the global scene and defining the global scene and all policy dictates. So when we talk about Tariffs and the Trade War. Of course, all the issues, usually 99% of the time, center around money, trade, finance, business, and how it impacts the US. But there’s much more to that. It’s about the ego of Donald Trump. I want to control. I want to dominate. I want to show who’s boss. And not just in the name of the good old USA or America, namely America, power and influence globally that’s been there since World War II.
More importantly, Donald Trump sees himself as the arbiter, the supreme definer of American economic and political power globally. So when we talk about terrorists, make no mistake about it, yes, you can talk about manufacturing. Yes, you can talk about trade. Yes, you can talk about the imbalance in the deficit. Yes, you can talk about manufacturing. Yes, you can talk about jobs in the economy. That is, if you want to look at it in the plus sense.
But the bigger issue is, and the real molded driving force behind Trump and his obsession with terror It’s Donald Trump. Power, me, control in the name of the US. When the question is asked, why is Trump so obsessed with tariffs and waging a trade war, even at the expense of alienating even friends in Canada and the European Union, and to an extent, Mexico. It’s about calling the shots, no matter what it is, immigration, drugs, the border, and many other things that really go into asserting American power and dominance globally, been that way since World War II, with a special element now, the ego of Donald Trump. Thanks again for listening to and joining me and watching the Hutchinson Report commentary, April first, 2025.
Why Donald Trump, President Trump, is really so obsessed with and it’s not just about money.
Political analyst Earl Ofari Hutchinson’s forthcoming book, Why Trump is Really So Obsessed with Tariffs (Middle Passage Press)