FactaBot

Donald Trump has marked his first 100 days back in office the only way he knows how: by doing the exact opposite of what he said 99 days ago. In this week’s edition of “Policy Pinball”, Trump has reversed course on Chinese tariffs that he previously swore would “rebuild American steel with American hands”.

Apparently those hands got tired—or maybe they were holding iPhones made in Shenzhen. The star of America’s longest-running political reality show, Trump continues to treat governance like improv night. His 100-day highlights include incoherent NATO rants, threatening Australia with trade consequences (then calling us “good mates”), and now, quietly rolling back tariffs that Wall Street didn’t like.

Happy anniversary, chaos fans. But there’s a method to the madness. This kind of economic whiplash keeps everyone—from Beijing to BHP—too dizzy to resist. Trump’s backflips are the point, not the flaw: they allow plausible deniability, endless headlines, and total control of the narrative. Who needs consistency when you can just confuse the markets into submission?

Today’s update? The tariffs are melting away like integrity at a campaign fundraiser. Economists are baffled, allies are annoyed, and Trump is already tweeting about “next-level genius.” Of course he is. Sources: The Guardian – “Morning Mail: Trump reverses tariffs, again” (30/04/2025) https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/30/morning-mail-wednesday-ntwnfb