Fareed Zakaria

If you assume all of Trump's tariffs are actually put in place, I think it goes up to about 6%. And if that stays, which is a big if, other countries will all retaliate. This is an area where I think we do live in. It's not even a bipolar world. It's a tripolar world. The Europeans and the Chinese are very powerful. And the Europeans on this issue speak with one voice.

If you assume all of Trump's tariffs are actually put in place, I think it goes up to about 6%. And if that stays, which is a big if, other countries will all retaliate. This is an area where I think we do live in. It's not even a bipolar world. It's a tripolar world. The Europeans and the Chinese are very powerful. And the Europeans on this issue speak with one voice.

So they will put on reciprocal tariffs. The Chinese will put on reciprocal tariffs. We end up in a world with more tariffs, more protection. Look, I'm an old-fashioned free trader. I think the whole thing is a disaster. I think that it is a complete misreading of the last 30 or 40 years of economics. J.E.

So they will put on reciprocal tariffs. The Chinese will put on reciprocal tariffs. We end up in a world with more tariffs, more protection. Look, I'm an old-fashioned free trader. I think the whole thing is a disaster. I think that it is a complete misreading of the last 30 or 40 years of economics. J.E.

Vance, when he was in Germany, in Europe, one of the few backhanded compliments he played to Germany was, he said, at least the Germans didn't go along with this Washington consensus nonsense and they protected their manufacturing, which is partly true. They didn't protect it through tariffs, by the way. They protected it

Vance, when he was in Germany, in Europe, one of the few backhanded compliments he played to Germany was, he said, at least the Germans didn't go along with this Washington consensus nonsense and they protected their manufacturing, which is partly true. They didn't protect it through tariffs, by the way. They protected it

by just having very strong apprenticeship programs and what we would call, you know, community college type stuff. But look at where Germany is. Germany, the third, fourth largest economy in the world, is stuck in the second industrial revolution. What do they make? Cars, chemicals, machine tools. They don't have any industry in the digital economy.

by just having very strong apprenticeship programs and what we would call, you know, community college type stuff. But look at where Germany is. Germany, the third, fourth largest economy in the world, is stuck in the second industrial revolution. What do they make? Cars, chemicals, machine tools. They don't have any industry in the digital economy.

The entire digital economy is totally dominated by the U.S. Why is that? Because we allowed ourselves to transition to where the frontiers of the economy were. This whole idea of trying to hold on to the 19th century or the 1920s It doesn't work. It's incredibly expensive. Nobody has been able to do it.

The entire digital economy is totally dominated by the U.S. Why is that? Because we allowed ourselves to transition to where the frontiers of the economy were. This whole idea of trying to hold on to the 19th century or the 1920s It doesn't work. It's incredibly expensive. Nobody has been able to do it.

Manufacturing employment today, after Donald Trump's four years and Joe Biden's four years, is the same as it was roughly 10, 15 years ago. So I think that this whole obsession is fundamentally misconceived. What we should do is much more redistribution so that the people who lose out in these periods of technological change are taken care of. But the idea that we can go back to 1950 is just nuts.

Manufacturing employment today, after Donald Trump's four years and Joe Biden's four years, is the same as it was roughly 10, 15 years ago. So I think that this whole obsession is fundamentally misconceived. What we should do is much more redistribution so that the people who lose out in these periods of technological change are taken care of. But the idea that we can go back to 1950 is just nuts.

I would guess that America first for Trump and for many of his followers. And again, I wouldn't put some of the ideologists of MAGA in the same category. But I think for Trump, it's the idea that the United States has been constrained for too long

I would guess that America first for Trump and for many of his followers. And again, I wouldn't put some of the ideologists of MAGA in the same category. But I think for Trump, it's the idea that the United States has been constrained for too long

by globalism, by worrying about the international environment, by worrying about all these alliances constrained by these international organizations, that, again, we've been the sucker, that what America first means is we're going to break through all that bullshit and we're just going to do what's good for America.

by globalism, by worrying about the international environment, by worrying about all these alliances constrained by these international organizations, that, again, we've been the sucker, that what America first means is we're going to break through all that bullshit and we're just going to do what's good for America.

But what is left undefined, as you're saying, is, well, what is good for America? Why would it be good for America to break apart the international trading system? Why would it be good for America to break apart this world it's created? So that part, I think, is undefined. But you can see the impulse and what the attraction is to a lot of people.

But what is left undefined, as you're saying, is, well, what is good for America? Why would it be good for America to break apart the international trading system? Why would it be good for America to break apart this world it's created? So that part, I think, is undefined. But you can see the impulse and what the attraction is to a lot of people.

A lot of people who have always felt that the United States, by the way, run by this elite cabal of urban liberals, overeducated urban liberals in places like New York and Washington, has been selling America out. This was basically, if you think of the 1950s, this was the McCarthy attack in many ways. So I think in some ways it's a hearkening back to that idea.

A lot of people who have always felt that the United States, by the way, run by this elite cabal of urban liberals, overeducated urban liberals in places like New York and Washington, has been selling America out. This was basically, if you think of the 1950s, this was the McCarthy attack in many ways. So I think in some ways it's a hearkening back to that idea.