Victor Davis Hanson: The ‘Trade War’ That Never Was

The Daily Signal Podcast

The Daily Signal

News, Government, Politics, Daily News

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since launching Liberation Day in early April, several countries, most notability South Korea and Japan, have come to the negotiating table, seeking to lessen tariffs, levied across the board, by the Trump administration. The stock market has recently recovered, somewhat. And now, President Trump says he’s willing to lower tariffs on China. Many on the Left were quick to blast Trump, saying things like, “Oh, he’s caving. This was all unnecessary.” Bottom line: The Trump administration’s “trade war” wasn’t really a “war” at all, “It was just an effort to stop a 50-year-cycle of chronic American trade deficits that had harmed the industrial interior”, argues Victor Davis Hanson on today’s edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words: “Now the Left says, ‘Oh, he's caving, he's caving. This was all unnecessary.’ You could interpret it that way. But it's more likely "Art of the Deal." In other words, we're going to invade Panama, but we're not going to invade Panama. We just want Panama to let American companies run the exit and the entry to the canal—and that's probably going to happen. “Canada's going to be the 51st state. No. It's not going to be the 51st state. But Canada should defend themselves and pay 2% of their GDP, and they need to address a $65-$100 billion deficit. “But, we want to absorb Greenland. No. We don't. We want Denmark—a colonial power with this huge North American colony—we want them to help them a little bit. And indeed, they're starting to put Greenland on their imperial flags, and they gave them a billion dollars, and the base is secure. And the Greenland people, 50,000 or so, will want U.S. security. So, that is the ‘Art of the Deal.’” 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1… 👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/victordavishanson7273… 👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Amazon offers term time working to their employees, like Anton,
0:05.0	who's home to look after his daughters during their holidays.
0:10.0	Hello!
0:11.0	To him, this is the best sound in the world.
0:13.0	Daddy!
0:14.0	Actually, maybe that's the best sound of all. Now that's term time working.
0:23.6	Offered at Amazon.
0:24.6	10 weeks off guaranteed per year.
0:26.6	Mix of paid holiday and unpaid time off.
0:28.6	Conditions apply.
0:29.6	Where are we in the trade wars, the tariff wars?
0:32.6	The stock market recently has recovered somewhat.
0:34.6	We're about where it was in August.
0:36.6	I didn't think it was too bad in
0:38.1	August of 24. It's recovering. And more importantly, Donald Trump said he's willing to lower tariffs on
0:44.3	China. The left says, oh, he's caving. He's caving. This was all unnecessary. It's more likely
0:50.0	art of the deal. In other words, to get China to come and reduce its 300 billion trade surplus
0:56.3	with the United States. Donald Trump talked about these huge tariffs. Now he will talk down and
1:02.1	will probably get a deal in art of the deal fashion. The bottom line, the trade war or tariff war was
1:07.7	never really a war. It was just an effort to stop a 50-year cycle of chronic
1:13.4	American trade deficits that had harmed the industrial interior.
1:21.6	Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hanson for the Daily Signate.
	...

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