Jen Psaki

Yeah, there he is.

Now, at the time, the White House said that, quote, all of the president's trade discussions are totally unrelated to the Trump organization.

Okay.

And Vietnam's foreign ministry did not respond to questions about the project.

But after all that, when it came time for Trump to actually implement the tariffs he threatened on his so-called Liberation Day, after the Vietnamese government had hustled and ignored their own laws to fast-track Trump's $1.5 billion project—

What do you know?

Trump dropped his tariff rate for Vietnam from 46% to just 20%.

Gee, I wonder why.

And if that example isn't clear enough for you, you could also look to Trump's tariffs on Switzerland, which I mentioned earlier.

I mean, last August, Trump hit Switzerland with a 39% tariff, one of the highest tariffs in the world.

Trump has since openly explained that his reasoning for that tariff was personal.

He said that he made the tariff so high simply because the president of Switzerland, quote, rubbed him the wrong way.

Now, in an effort to get that tariff rate cut down, Switzerland appeared to Trump personally.

The Swiss sent a delegation of Swiss industry tycoons bearing gifts for Trump, a special Rolex desktop clock, there it is, and a personalized golden bar, valued at a little more than $130,000.

Now, the White House says that Trump merely accepted the gifts on behalf of his presidential library, making them legal.

But regardless of the legality, the charm offensive appears to have worked, because 10 days later, Trump cut Switzerland's tariffs from 39% to just 15%.

Again, I wonder why.

Last year, we also saw Trump try to use his tariffs to help his personal political buddies abroad.

Back in 2022, the former president of Brazil and Trump's buddy, Bolsonaro, lost the Brazilian presidential election.

but tried to stay in power anyway by mounting a military coup.