CORE?:

Their paralyzing uncertainty is driven by the president's veering from one position to another. Businesses seem increasingly convinced that he doesn't understand the basics of international economics. Trump bemoans the relative strength of the dollar one day, declaring China a currency manipulator, and the next he praises dollar-strengthening inflows of foreign investment. With such a tenuous grasp on the facts of the situation, how can he make predictable policy? How can businesses anticipate what he'll do?

At the same time, events are making the post hoc rationalizations about Trump's trade regime -- that he is actually a radical free trader using tariffs to make trade even more free in the future -- increasingly unpersuasive. There's growing acceptance that the president really is a protectionist to his core.

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