The Wall Street Journal Mocks Trump for Blinking on Tariffs and Touting Them as ‘Some Genius Power Play’

The Wall Street Journal‘s editorial board mocked President Donald Trump for blinking on his promise to impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports on Monday, arguing that the deals he struck with the United States’ two neighbors were not “some genius power play.”

Under the headline “Trump Blinks on North American Tariffs,” the influential paper observed that “President Trump never admits a mistake, but he often changes his mind,” before arguing that “there’s much less to this tariff truce than meets the eye.”

“If the North American leaders need to cheer about a minor deal so they all claim victory, that’s better for everyone. The need is especially important for Mr. Trump given how much he has boasted that his tariffs are a fool-proof diplomatic weapon against friend or foe. Mr. Trump can’t afford to look like the guy who lost. [Mexican President] Ms. [Claudia] Sheinbaum in particular seems to recognize this, and so far she’s playing her Trump cards with skill,” argued the editorial board. “None of this means the tariffs are some genius power play, as the Trump media chorus is boasting. The 25% border tax could return in a month if Mr. Trump is in the wrong mood, or if he doesn’t like something the foreign leaders have said or done. It also isn’t clear what Mr. Trump really wants his tariffs to achieve. Are they about reducing the flow of fentanyl, or is his real goal to rewrite the North American trade deal he signed in his first term? If it’s the latter, there’s more political volatility ahead.”

“Mr. Trump’s weekend tariff broadside against a pair of neighbors has opened a new era of economic policy uncertainty that won’t calm down until the President does,” concluded the Journal. “As we warned many times before Election Day, this is the biggest economic risk of Donald Trump’s second term.”

Notably, the editorial came just hours after Trump hosted the paper’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, for a meeting in the Oval Office. Trump welcomed press into the room with Murdoch in it and praised him as a “legendary” businessman before attacking the Journal for characterizing his proposed tariffs as being part of “the dumbest trade war in history.”

“I’m gonna have to talk to him [Murdoch] about that,” quipped Trump to laughs. “I’ve been right over The Wall Street Journal many times, I will tell you that. I don’t agree with him on some things.”