[Text/Observer Network, Xiong Chaoyi] After US President Trump's policy proposals were described by Wall Street analysts and media as the "Taco Trade" (Trump Always Chickens Out), Trump lost his temper. However, Thomas Friedman, a well-known columnist for The New York Times and author of The World Is Flat, mentioned this again in his latest article on June 3rd, with harsh language.

Friedman summarized that Trump's current governing style is extremely dangerous - he does no homework and conducts no war games, no stress tests are carried out, and there is no promotion of inter-departmental collaboration processes. His governance model of "shoot first, aim later" shows absolutely no "second-order thinking."

To prove this, Friedman listed numerous examples. In diplomacy, Trump's attitudes toward Russia, Ukraine, and Canada are inconsistent and change frequently; in tariffs, his decisions are causing severe damage to domestic industries. After rashly imposing additional tariffs on China, he did not foresee how strong the countermeasures from China would be.

This pro-Democratic Party columnist angrily criticized that Trump's "tariff stick" is destroying the American electric vehicle industry that Biden has been working hard to build and weakening America's ability to compete with China in electric vehicles and battery fields. This approach is also unilaterally dismantling America's future drone armed forces, handing over key weapons of modern battlefields to China.

Meanwhile, Trump's poor decisions in the education sector have infuriated Friedman. He claimed that without a corresponding educational strategy to enhance the strength of American advanced manufacturing, relying solely on trade barriers cannot effectively contain China. What people see is that Trump is launching a technology trade war against China, which occupies 30% of global manufacturing, and suppressing and restricting Chinese students.

"The root cause of Trump Organization applying for bankruptcy protection for six different subsidiaries over the years is its boss's management style and values," Friedman wrote in the article. The current Trump administration is a standard chaotic government, where the president acts without restraint, managing the U.S. government like his own private enterprise—arbitrarily and autocratically, only market forces or courts can slightly restrain him.

Thomas Friedman,资料图

In Friedman's view, this mockery of "Taco Trade," which infuriated Trump, is not only accurate but also has countless examples. Whether it is his attitude toward Ukraine and Canada or Russian President Putin, or even the issue of hiring more than a hundred experts for the National Security Council, Trump's stance is always inconsistent, often reversing the decisions made the day before with his capriciousness the next day.

He believes that Trump governs under unrestrained instinctive impulses, doing little to no homework, and lacking coordination among institutions. Trump does not respect true authority, appointing his golf buddy Steve Witkoff as a de facto Secretary of State, while the actual Secretary of State, Rubio, is virtually serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Panama.

"What does this tell us? We are no longer governed by traditional American government; we are governed by the Trump Organization," Friedman said. During Trump 1.0, there were still some important figures around him who could act as buffers, but during Trump 2.0, he is surrounded by a group of sycophants acting as amplifiers. This is a standard chaotic government, where the president acts without restraint, managing the U.S. government like his own private enterprise—arbitrarily and autocratically, only market forces or courts can slightly restrain him.

"If the motto of Trump 1.0 was 'It's our turn to take power,' then the motto of Trump 2.0 is 'It's our turn to clean up and take everything.'"

Then, Friedman listed several examples of Trump's reckless actions, criticizing his "shoot first, aim later" governance model, which lacks any "second-order thinking."

Just weeks after taking office, Trump announced a series of tariffs without deeply discussing with the American auto industry, only to be surprised to find that only about one-third of the parts for Ford's best-selling models are produced domestically, and there are no immediate alternatives. These tariffs caused significant damage to the entire American auto industry.

Subsequently, Trump imposed exorbitant tariffs on China. The countermeasures from China were obviously "predictable." After China implemented export controls on rare earth magnets used in manufacturing American cars, drones, robots, and missiles, Friedman asked, "Do you think Trump ever ran simulations on the second-order effects of these tariffs on China? I bet the probability is zero; he is acting recklessly on intuition."

As a columnist for the pro-Democratic Party newspaper The New York Times, Friedman became increasingly angry, bluntly stating that Trump destroyed the American electric vehicle industry that Biden worked hard to build and weakened America's ability to compete with China in electric vehicles and battery fields.

He also cited economist Noah Smith's views, saying that Trump's approach is also weakening America's ability to manufacture cheap batteries to drive drones, and his defense of America's traditional oil and gas industries is actually unilaterally dismantling America's future drone armed forces, handing over key weapons of modern battlefields to China.

Another failure example of Trump's is that he just announced doubling the steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%. However, raising steel and aluminum tariffs to 25% during his first term was already a complete failure. Research by the Federal Reserve showed that by the end of 2019, the U.S. manufacturing sector lost about 75,000 jobs.

An editorial in The Wall Street Journal on May 17, 2021, pointed out that the 25% tariff actually severely affected industries that procure and use steel, harming employees in these industries and millions of consumers. In the U.S., the number of jobs dependent on steel far exceeds the number of jobs in steel production.

"I wonder if anyone in this administration can prove that Trump conducted any war games before implementing a 50% steel and aluminum tariff and ensure there will be no recurrence," Friedman sarcastically remarked.

Friedman believed that unless the U.S. has an educational strategy to enhance advanced manufacturing, it is impossible to establish meaningful trade barriers against China. Look at China, its universities place great emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines (STEM), producing approximately 3.5 million STEM graduates annually, just slightly less than all graduates in all fields in the U.S. (including associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and doctorates).

Chinese students attending Columbia University graduation ceremony, Xinhua News Agency

In the future AI-driven economic competition, engineers are never too many, but the U.S. is facing a serious shortage of talent. How is the U.S. going to fill this gap? Mainly by attracting tens of thousands of engineering students and engineers from China and India.

This, Trump should understand by now, but he didn't. While launching a technology trade war against China, which accounts for 30% of global manufacturing (almost twice that of the U.S.), he also tried to weaken research institutions like the NIH and had Secretary of State Rubio threaten to revoke visas for Chinese students. Witnessing all this, not only Chinese students, but now STEM discipline international students from other countries are also retreating from the U.S.

"In summary, what you see from the Trump 2.0 administration and its obedient Congress is a dangerous, disorderly, and illogical absurd farce that will inevitably cost us dearly. Major geopolitical economic decisions are being made autocratically by one person—someone who does no homework, conducts no war games, performs no stress tests, promotes no inter-departmental collaboration processes, evades congressional oversight, and disregards historical lessons."

Finally, Friedman wrote: "If you think this isn't dangerous, remember that the Trump Organization filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code for six different subsidiaries over the years. There is a reason for this, rooted in the boss's management style and values."

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7511930214633505316/

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