‘A special edition of Hannaford with Calgary-based portfolio manager Petar Pejovic looks at what may be a larger statecraft behind President Trump’s tariffs.’
For very obvious reasons, quarterbacks do not share their intended plays with the other side before the game starts. In sport, war and much else, a win depends on surprise and to a large extent, upon deception.
In tonight’s edition of Hannaford, Petar Pejovic — now a senior portfolio manager with Wellington-Altus Private Wealth Management, but once a pro footballer (Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 1995 draft) — looks at President Trump’s tariff campaign and opines that Trump may have wider objectives than his critics have recognized. And if he has not explained them before taking action, that would be hardly surprising…
The great difficulty in talking about anything Donald Trump does, is that some people react so fiercely and instinctively to the evil orange man, that they will condemn in him behaviours that they would applaud in others, simply because it’s him doing it.
But what if the recent decisions he’s made are actually a comprehensive and self-supporting plan to deal with real American problems? Is it possible for example, to put together tariffs with China policy, government efficiency, and influencing interest rates?
Pejovic: “Possibly. The crux of the problem is that US fiscal deficits and trade deficits are simply unsustainable.”
In other words the US government has to spend less on interest and programs, and the country itself cannot afford to continue being a consumer of goods without being a producer of goods.
Tariffs are effective in both objectives. They raise revenue and over the last few months, this week’s bump notwithstanding, 2-year treasury bond rates are trending downwards. As commercial interest rates take their cue from bonds, the US is looking at reduced rates when trillions of dollars of debt roll over later this year.
And was the goal to ring-fence China? Perhaps.
