With Trump’s Tariffs, the Misbehaved Children Are Coming Home to Papa

Trump’s breakthrough on lowering trade barriers with Vietnam is the latest evidence that he is a master negotiator.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Trump announces new tariffs at the White House Rose Garden, April 2, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

It’s as if the misbehaved children are coming home to papa.

We’re all looking for a bottom in the stock market — so we can jump in, add to our portfolios of index funds, and then passively hold them for the next 50 years.

Well, fellow bottom-watchers, one of the best signs is President Trump’s Truth Social post earlier today:

“Just had a very productive call with To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, who told me that Vietnam wants to cut their Tariffs down to ZERO if they are able to make an agreement with the U.S. I thanked him on behalf of our Country, and said I look forward to a meeting in the near future.”

In other words, Mr. Trump is a deal maker. He’s a master negotiator.

He’s made his point — that unfair trading practices aimed at the U.S. over the last three decades — have to stop. The era of high tariffs and low wages is coming to an end. And his mission to re-order the world’s trading system is a five-star mission.

Since 1997, America has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs and shuttered 90,000 factories. This has got to stop. And Mr. Trump is the guy to stop it.

What he’s doing is using shock therapy to put an end to it. But part of the shock therapy will, indeed, be dealmaking.

Already, there are reports popping up almost everywhere that plenty of countries want to make reciprocal trade peace with  America. 

Prominent nations on this list, beside Vietnam, include Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Britain, Canada, India, and Israel. Apart from Communist China, this list covers most of our important, if recalcitrant, trading partners.

Now, if you run your finger down the Administration’s reciprocal tariffs list of misbehaving children Mr. Trump unveiled on Wednesday, you’ll find the European Union, Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, India, and South Korea.

And, in addition to Mexico and Canada, who were not included in the reciprocal list, and China, which is always hopelessly our enemy, these are pretty much our biggest trading partners.

It’s as though the misbehaved children are coming home to their papa.

As one wag once put it, it’s like Mr. Trump walked back in, and said: “daddy’s home.”

So, stock bottom-watchers of the world, unite.

Mr. Trump has a very strong pro-growth economic plan: tax cuts, deregulation, energy production, and — yes — reciprocal fair trade.

He’s succeeded once. And he can do it again.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business Network.


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