What really bugs me about the tariff situation
“Justice is the first virtue of social institutions.”
— John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
Following up on Sunday’s post, I promised that my Wednesday post would comment on the news cycle related to tariffs. I held off sending this out until today (Thursday) because I stopped to think about how I wanted to position my thoughts with non-violent communication (NVC). Those following this Substack know that I have been working to express feelings and needs. For feelings, I am somewhat “irritated” and feeling “contempt”. My unmet needs are around “consideration,” “equality,” and “predictability.” I don’t want to pathologize here, but I think I have a particular form of justice sensitivity.
Here’s the definition from Verywell Mind:
Justice sensitivity refers to an individual’s sense of fairness, equity, and inclusion, as well as their need to address and correct injustices. Most people would describe themselves as having some level of justice sensitivity, though the intensity to which they focus on issues of justice and equity will vary, like all traits.
Some people experience extremely high justice sensitivity, which can impact how they respond to perceived injustice and wrongdoing in the world around them. Autistic and ADHD individuals in particular tend to have higher levels of justice sensitivity compared to neurotypicals.
For me, the problem with all the tariff news wasn't just bad economics and the inefficacy of actually creating a significant number of manufacturing jobs. (Paul Krugman’s Substack is great on this topic.) It has been the Trump administration’s complete dismissal of any shred of fairness, justice, or the impact on people less fortunate than they are. This made me think of John Rawls’ work where he wrote:
“A just society is a society that if you knew everything about it, you'd be willing to enter it in a random place.”
— John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
Outside of tariffs, I’ve just been having a problem with a lot of what’s happening around us right now:
Why is it OK for the President and the First Lady to sell their own meme cryptocurrency coins?
Why is it OK to deport green card holders just because they are exercising a right to free speech?
Why is it OK to universally pardon the January 6th rioters?
Why is it OK to close agencies (e.g., USAID) that were explicitly created through legislation?
Why is it OK for the President to go after law firms involved representing clients that are not pro-Trump?
The list goes on. I don’t think these are Democrat vs. Republican issues. These are rule of law and ethics issues.
With the tariffs, my issue was less about the implementation of tariffs themselves, but rather the arbitrary nature by which these were slammed through, considering the great impact they have on our citizens, our businesses, and our standing in the international community. There are many policies that have been implemented by the government in the past that I’ve been unhappy with, but most of these were implemented in a legal manner.
There was a new twist yesterday, as Trump put a 90-day pause on the “reciprocal” tariffs imposed on major trading partners. Four hours before the announcement, he posted on social media, “THIS IS GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT” Ultimately, the stock market reacted favorably, with the S&P 500 rising 9.5%.
Pundits here on Substack have already reacted to what appears to be foul play. Robert Reich asserts that Trump may have used feigned madness with tariff policy as a way to manipulate markets and enrich insiders. Adam Schiff is soliciting whistleblowers to do an investigation. The press has now picked up on this, too.
As a data point, Marjorie Taylor Greene was reported to have made a number of trades, first buying bonds before the tariffs were announced and then buying Apple, Amazon, and other stocks on the “dip” before the pause on tariff was announced.
Of course, there isn’t any clear evidence of market manipulation yet, but the President just has a clear track record of financial conflicts of interest. (Pictured below is Trump using the White House lawn as a Tesla showroom with Elon Musk…)
I am having a real problem with this. Is this just my own justice sensitivity, or are you having the same problems, too?