Sunday 25 May, 2025
Subscribe Login
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • International
      • #
    • Business
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup 2022
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • International
      • #
      • News
        Up in flames
        News
        Family anguish
        News
        Sweet Friendship
      • USF empowering schoolchildren through ICT Clubs
        A chance to exhale
        Give salary agreement some teeth!
        Prostate cancer scare
        Job description or code of conduct?
    • Business
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup 2022
      • Olympics
      • #
      • Sports
        REBUILD AND RETAIN
        Sports
        Shericka Jackson opens 100m season at Rabat Diamond League
        Sports
        Unbelievable Force returns to winning ways with dominant win
      • Shanieka Ricketts wins triple jump in Zagreb
        FOR THE PRINCESS
        Christopher Taylor wins in return to the track from suspension
        NBA's Thompson twins acquiring Jamaican citizenship, could represent island
        PSG beat Reims to win French Cup ahead of Champions League final
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
      • Entertainment
        ‘A LONG TIME COMING’
        Entertainment
        Jesus All the Way gospel concert to benefit historic ministry hub
        Entertainment
        Ras Kronik teams with Mr Mig for remixes
      • Swnkah ignites legacy with ‘Dancehall Stylee’
        Niney Holness drops album at 80
        D Blacks hits hard with ‘Muhammad Ali’
        Burning Spear’s ‘Marcus Garvey’ to be revisited at Calabash for 50th anniversary
        Creativity and authenticity needed to push dancehall global, says Jah Teff
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
      • Lifestyle
        #UnitedInExcellence
        Lifestyle
        Protect Your Portfolio: Sustainable Habits for Building Wealth
        Lifestyle
        COCKTAILS With
      • LUNCH @ NOSTRA BELLA
        Roast By Toast, A Must-Visit Mandeville Eatery
        Rodents, Food Safety, and Public Health
        ‘Beauties at Brunch’ celebrates mothers in style at the Serengeti
        Wednesday May 21, 2025
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
  • Home
  • News
  • Latest
  • Business
  • Cartoon
  • Games
  • Food Awards
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Bookends
  • Regional
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • World Cup
    • World Champs
    • Olympics
  • All Woman
  • Career & Education
  • Environment
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Football
    • Letters
    • Advertorial
    • Columns
    • Editorial
    • Supplements
  • Epaper
  • Classifieds
  • Design Week
Tariffs are all about egotism and autocratic power
WASHINGTON, DC, United States - US President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled ‘Make America Wealthy Again’ at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025.
Columns
Raulston Nembhard  
April 9, 2025

Tariffs are all about egotism and autocratic power

If anything, US President Donald Trump has made a relatively unknown and mundane word — “tariff” — one of the most talked about in recent memory. It is one of the words that appears frequently on any Google search.

However one may want to spin it, a tariff is nothing but a tax or duty that is placed by a Government on goods exported and imported into a country. It is used by governments to regulate trade and ostensibly create a sense of fairness and equity in trading practices. Tariffs can correct imbalances in trading arrangements which give one country a distinct advantage over another. But they are seldomly used in international trade, largely because of their punitive nature. Thus, they have to be sensibly and strategically allied with well worked out targets and goals.

Trump believes that America is being raped and pillaged economically by the rest of the world. For him to make America great and prosperous again, this trend has to be reversed. The rest of the world has to pay its fair share, whether people like it or not. Even the poorest countries of the world are not spared in this effort of “normalisation”.

In his shambolic, expansive, and chaotic roll-out of tariffs, there is no economist of merit who believes that this approach is good for America or the world economy. It is only those who want to toe the ideological line with Trump, or who are otherwise in cultic fealty to him, who would believe that this broad and obviously reckless approach will redound to America’s benefit. And many who support him in this reckless endeavour know better, but they are prepared to sacrifice whatever intellectual integrity they have on the altars of their own self-aggrandizement. Not so Jeremy Siegel, a renowned professor and top economist at the Wharton School of Finance in Pennsylvania. He has rightly dubbed Trump’s latest effort as the biggest policy mistake in 95 years.

But many who still have the country’s interest at heart are agreed that these policies are not well thought out. They fear inflation in the prices of goods and services that can occur in the short term and possible recession in the long term. Trump’s economic team is trying desperately to show the public that they are in unanimous agreement with what Trump is doing, but it will not be long before it becomes clear that there is a wide gulf fixed between what they are saying publicly and the real drama behind closed doors.

In any event, Americans, who are already burdened by the inflated cost of goods and services increasingly, do not share the president’s enthusiasm about these “beautiful” tariffs. They sense what it could mean for them in their pocketbooks. Contrary to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s notion that the retired are not concerned about the stock market, many fear what is being done to their retirement savings and investments as the stock market responds to the inconsistencies, uncertainty, and unpredictability of these policies.

Many in the country, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike, do not seem to get the sense that Trump cares about the depredations that his policies will cause in their lives. And they have good reasons to feel this way. If he cared, his tariff policies would have been more measured and targeted in their application. No one has any argument about a country’s right to address trade imbalances with other countries. When Trump first applied tariffs against China in his first term, I applauded this effort. I had long wondered why America allowed China to get away with the high trade deficits over the years, which largely favoured the Chinese. I believed then that some redress was in order.

But this mother of all redresses in its present iteration against the entire world is as exhausting as it is unconscionable, if not unscrupulous. No one wins a tariff war, certainly not on the scale that Trump is willing to wage it. In the end, everyone loses, but it is the poorest countries that are more vulnerable and whose people suffer the most. Trump is on a crusade in which he believes that harsh medicine can lead to the desired cure. But the patient may very well die in the process.

What is equally jarring to me is that there is no rhyme or reason for the present approach. I believe that it is being driven more by Trump’s belief in his and America’s invincibility. This time around he believes that there is no one to whom he has to be accountable, not the feckless Congress that are quiescent about his present tactics, or the Supreme Court that has given him agency to do virtually anything which can be interpreted as his official duty.

Most importantly, it is ego-driven and feeds into his most self-obsessed instincts that he knows what is right and that he alone can fix things. It is this gut instinct and the fact that his name is being called all over the world, or that world leaders have to contact him to make a deal, that comprise the essence of what makes him happy. I will reiterate what I said in the last piece: Ultimately, for him, tariffs are more a psychological necessity than an economic one.

 

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. He hosts a podcast — Mango Tree Dialogues — on his You Tube channel. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.

No one wins a tariff war.

Raulston Nembhard

3 Comments · Make a comment
{"xml":"xml"}{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
img img

ALSO ON JAMAICA OBSERVER

Turn yourselves in!
Latest News
Turn yourselves in!
Cops name several people being sought
May 18, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica- Following a recent surge in violent incidents across communities within the St Andrew South Division, the police are appealing to s...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
CPI for April down 0.4 per sent says STATIN
Latest News, News
CPI for April down 0.4 per sent says STATIN
May 18, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica  - The All-Jamaica Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April 2025 declined by 0.4 per cent when compared to March 2025 as released on Fri...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
42 Haitians picked up in Portland
Latest News, News
42 Haitians picked up in Portland
May 18, 2025
PORTLAND, Jamaica- Approximately 42 Haitians, including a pregnant female, were picked up by members of the security force Sunday morning after arrivi...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Paulwell questions Government’s commitment to tackling climate change
Latest News, News
Paulwell questions Government’s commitment to tackling climate change
May 18, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica- Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Phillip Paulwell, has questioned the government’s commitment to tackling climate change despite the...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Tiktoker 119 returns to court on July 25
Latest News, News
Tiktoker 119 returns to court on July 25
May 18, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica- Popular Tiktoker 119 will return to court on July 25 to face a malicious communication charge over social media posts made about a ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Former US President Joe Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer
International, Latest News
Former US President Joe Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer
May 18, 2025
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) -- Former US president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer and is reviewing trea...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer", "breaking-news":"Push Notifications"}
Paulwell suggests ways to lower electricity prices, make JPS more accountable
Latest News, News
Paulwell suggests ways to lower electricity prices, make JPS more accountable
May 18, 2025
With the pending end of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) licence in July 2027, Opposition Spokesman on Energy, Phillip Paulwell, is again urgi...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Gov’t to award 60 scholarships under Farm Workers Programme – Charles Jr
Latest News, News
Gov’t to award 60 scholarships under Farm Workers Programme – Charles Jr
May 18, 2025
A total of 60 scholarships will be awarded to Jamaicans in 2026 under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Programme (SAWP), more popularly referred to a...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
❮❯

Polls

HOUSE RULES

  1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper; email addresses will not be published.
  2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
  3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
  4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
  5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
  6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
  7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

Christopher Taylor wins in return to the track from suspension
Latest News, ...
Christopher Taylor wins in return to the track from suspension
May 24, 2025
Jamaican track prodigy Christopher Taylor made a winning return to competition on Saturday, clocking an impressive 45.66 seconds at the JAAA World Ath...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer", "breaking-news":"Push Notifications"}
NBA’s Thompson twins acquiring Jamaican citizenship, could represent island
Latest News, ...
NBA’s Thompson twins acquiring Jamaican citizenship, could represent island
May 24, 2025
The Jamaica Observer understands that NBA stars and twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson could represent Jamaica in international competitions in the...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer", "breaking-news":"Push Notifications"}
Ras Kronik teams with Mr Mig for remixes
Entertainment, ...
Ras Kronik teams with Mr Mig for remixes
May 24, 2025
Ras Kronik takes the remix route on two of his songs, which will be released in June. Both are done by Steve “Mr Mig” Migliore, who has worked with ma...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
PSG beat Reims to win French Cup ahead of Champions League final
Latest News, ...
PSG beat Reims to win French Cup ahead of Champions League final
May 24, 2025
PARIS, France (AFP) -- Paris Saint-Germain warmed up for their Champions League final showdown with Inter Milan by winning the French Cup on Saturday ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Latest News, ...
WATCH: 19 homeless, one injured after Barbican fire
May 24, 2025
ST ANDREW, Jamaica — Nineteen people are homeless after a fire ravaged several dwellings in a tenement yard on Barbican Road in St Andrew on Saturday....
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}

Archives

April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Tweets

Polls

Recent Posts

Archives

April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
Logo Jamaica Observer
Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean
Featured Tags
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Business
  • Letters
  • Page2
  • Football
Categories
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
Ads
img
Jamaica Observer, 2025 © All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feeds
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Code of Conduct