On another kind of D-Day – Oren Cass in NYT:

‘Last week’s “Liberation Day” marked a kind of D-Day in the effort to reorder the international economic system. That reordering is desperately needed to address the system’s imbalances, which have led to deindustrialization and annual trillion-dollar trade deficits for the United States. But remember, far from striking World War II’s decisive blow, D-Day was just the start of the European campaign. Eleven months of vicious fighting followed, with more than 100,000 Americans killed before victory was secured. With the tariffs, too, success or failure depends on what happens next, and the nation will have to bear real costs while the outcome hangs in the balance.
The breadth, speed and severity of President Trump’s actions, which he finalized only shortly before the Rose Garden announcement, sparked immediate panic across markets and among allies. The airwaves filled with dire predictions as people scrutinized the sources and sizes of the numbers, the strategy and even the legal authority. Amid the hysteria, fair concerns have also emerged about what the plan lacks: time for companies and governments to respond, permanence for those tariffs intended to shift investments and a clear vision of the goals and how to reach them. But there are simple steps the administration could take now to correct course and move from its embattled beachhead into a sustainable forward position.’

(…)

‘For the many trading partners that have come forward to negotiate, little would be lost and much saved if Mr. Trump thanked them with a six-month grace period in which to bring their best offers to the table. Those who fail to deliver could be hit with half the Rose Garden tariff rate and be given six more months to get it right before the full weight lands.’

(…)

‘The first days of a war are rarely determinative of its outcome, and even the best plan changes when it meets the real world. Leaders get the opportunity to prove their mettle in those moments when they must adapt under fire to better pursue an unwavering goal. For Mr. Trump, the battlefield awaits.’

Read the article here.

Ah, this is a war.

Also, there is one powerful, and many powerless.

But power tends to be fluid.

A ‘six-month grace period’?

This administration believes that its allies are dead men walking.