Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan explained to CNBC that Trump's tariff policies are based on his whims and opinions rather than on data and there's choppy waters ahead legally from the courts on his tariffs.
Taco Trump and his minions have repeatedly claimed his yo-yo tariffs are a way to even out former bad trade deals and deficits, but Ryan noted that rationale was moot after Demented Donald punished Brazil with a 50% tariff over a political issue since there is no trade gap between the two countries.
So you have these agreements. I spent a lot of time on trade agreements. That's what one of my jobs in Congress was at Ways and Means.
And these agreements could be a little upended if he loses in court.
Then he's going to have to revive the tariff.
Plus, I think they justify tariffs based on trade deficits. I don't think that's the way to go, but then they threw a tariff on Brazil at 50 percent, and we have a trade surplus with Brazil.
So there's no sort of rationale for this other than, you know, just the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions.
And so I think choppy waters are ahead because I think they're going to have some legal challenges. And so I think it's going to be a while before this settles in.
I think the market would like to see a predictable tariff policy that's settled in.
Paul believes the "Supreme Court will knock out IEPA, the law that's being used for these tariffs," which is hopeful thinking if you look at their recent actions.
Ryan also predicted choppy waters ahead on Wall Street because Trump's actions on tariffs are so chaotic and unpredictable.