Trump Doesn’t Care If He Wrecks the Global Economy

Source: The New Republic · Bias: Left

Summary

On Monday, President Trump gathered more than 100 small-business leaders in the East Wing of the White House to take a victory lap. His return to the White House had resulted in “record business,” he said. The tax and regulatory cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the legislative centerpiece of his second term, were already a huge success. The economy was “roaring.” Everything was going phenomenally, unbelievably, historically well. It didn’t take long for Trump’s own allies to start sniping to the media. Within a few hours, Politico reported that some of the president’s advisers were rolling their eyes at his comments. Touting the economy was simply not going to cut it as a message to win the midterms, they said. “Everybody is pretty realistic about the fact that holding the House is going to be extremely difficult,” said one person granted anonymity. “Every day the war goes on, every day gas prices hover around five bucks, it makes it less and less likely, and it’s already very unlikely.” That’s more or less right. Thanks to Trump’s war in Iran, the average price of a gallon of gas nationwide is nearly $4.50, up from about $3.15 a year ago, and indeed is hovering around $5 in some Upper Midwest and West Coast states. This comes after the president’s tariffs had already caused a massive spike in prices. Though some of those tariffs were invalidated by the Supreme Court, Trump continues to push new ones: Last week, he announced a 25 percent tax on cars and trucks from the European Union. Trump is stuck in a quagmire in Iran, and he knows it. That’s why he announced a “Project Freedom” on Sunday to help the roughly 1,550 ships stranded in the Persian Gulf to pass through Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane that Iran effectively closed when the U.S. began bombing the country in late February. His “war” secretary, Pete Hegseth, claimed on Tuesday to have set up a “red, white, and blue” dome over the strait, but there’s no indication of a big uptick in maritime traffic. Two Navy destroyers pushed through the strait on Monday, and as of Tuesday only a few stranded ships had made it through—which might explain why Trump on Tuesday evening announced that he was pausing Project Freedom.It’s no surprise, then, that a barrel of crude oil is still trading north of $100, compared to $60 a year ago. And even if the strait—through which about a quarter of the world’s oil and gas supply passes—partially reopens and oil prices drop, it may be months before prices at the gas pump follow suit. As The New York Times explained in early April, a day after the U.S. and Iran announced a ceasefire, “There’s a saying in the energy industry that explains how the cost of gasoline behaves: It goes up like a rocket, but down like a feather.” Plus, the strait’s closure isn’t the only supply problem: The war has caused the destruction of dozens of oil and gas facilities throughout the Middle East. It’s hardly just the U.S. that’s suffering the economic consequences of Trump’s war. In fact, that U.S. has been more insulated from its effects than most other countries, thanks to being a major oil producer itself and being on relatively solid economic footing this year. “The fallout from two months of war in Iran is shuttering textile mills in India and Bangladesh, grounding airplanes in Ireland, Poland and Germany, and prompting energy rationing in Vietnam, South Korea and Thailand,” the Times reported last week, noting that “warning signs of a recession are flashing across countries in Asia and Europe.” Asian countries, in particular, are facing fuel shortages.How does this end? Trump’s options in Iran, as I wrote last week, are extremely limited and mostly terrible. He could restart the war. Iran appears to be trying to goad him into doing just that by firing missiles at Navy destroyers and at the United Arab Emirates. But Trump, whose fear of lengthy, boots-on-the-ground conflicts is one of his few consistently held beliefs, is hesitant to re-escalate. The Pentagon said Iran’s attacks this week do not violate the ceasefire, which seems obviously false at face value. And so, Trump is left with his second option: continue to blockade Iran in retaliation for Iran’s closure of the strait. Trump is trying to inflict enough pain on Iran—and perhaps, enough on the world, so that the few nations that count Iran as an ally can beg it to relent—in a short enough window to somehow avert global economic catastrophe. Obviously, that is is also a terrible option. It effectively amounts to playing a giant game of chicken that could wreck the global economy. Trump appears convinced—or wants to appear convinced—that Iran will cave before the U.S. does, either due to economic pressure or, perhaps, the resumption of bombing. He hinted on Monday that the U.S. would have little choice but to retaliate after Iran’s missile strikes.

Related Coverage

Daily Analysis

Read the full Parallax Pulse for May 6, 2026 — an AI-powered analysis of how Left and Right media covered the biggest stories this day.

More Headlines From May 6, 2026

arallaxNews.io
Trump Doesn’t Care If He Wrecks the Global Economy
The New Republic

Trump Doesn’t Care If He Wrecks the Global Economy

Left

On Monday, President Trump gathered more than 100 small-business leaders in the East Wing of the White House to take a victory lap. His return to the White House had resulted in “record business,” he said. The tax and regulatory cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the legislative centerpiece of his second term, were already a huge success. The economy was “roaring.” Everything was going phenomenally, unbelievably, historically well. It didn’t take long for Trump’s own allies to start sniping to the media. Within a few hours, Politico reported that some of the president’s advisers were rolling their eyes at his comments. Touting the economy was simply not going to cut it as a message to win the midterms, they said. “Everybody is pretty realistic about the fact that holding the House is going to be extremely difficult,” said one person granted anonymity. “Every day the war goes on, every day gas prices hover around five bucks, it makes it less and less likely, and it’s already very unlikely.” That’s more or less right. Thanks to Trump’s war in Iran, the average price of a gallon of gas nationwide is nearly $4.50, up from about $3.15 a year ago, and indeed is hovering around $5 in some Upper Midwest and West Coast states. This comes after the president’s tariffs had already caused a massive spike in prices. Though some of those tariffs were invalidated by the Supreme Court, Trump continues to push new ones: Last week, he announced a 25 percent tax on cars and trucks from the European Union. Trump is stuck in a quagmire in Iran, and he knows it. That’s why he announced a “Project Freedom” on Sunday to help the roughly 1,550 ships stranded in the Persian Gulf to pass through Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping lane that Iran effectively closed when the U.S. began bombing the country in late February. His “war” secretary, Pete Hegseth, claimed on Tuesday to have set up a “red, white, and blue” dome over the strait, but there’s no indication of a big uptick in maritime traffic. Two Navy destroyers pushed through the strait on Monday, and as of Tuesday only a few stranded ships had made it through—which might explain why Trump on Tuesday evening announced that he was pausing Project Freedom.It’s no surprise, then, that a barrel of crude oil is still trading north of $100, compared to $60 a year ago. And even if the strait—through which about a quarter of the world’s oil and gas supply passes—partially reopens and oil prices drop, it may be months before prices at the gas pump follow suit. As The New York Times explained in early April, a day after the U.S. and Iran announced a ceasefire, “There’s a saying in the energy industry that explains how the cost of gasoline behaves: It goes up like a rocket, but down like a feather.” Plus, the strait’s closure isn’t the only supply problem: The war has caused the destruction of dozens of oil and gas facilities throughout the Middle East. It’s hardly just the U.S. that’s suffering the economic consequences of Trump’s war. In fact, that U.S. has been more insulated from its effects than most other countries, thanks to being a major oil producer itself and being on relatively solid economic footing this year. “The fallout from two months of war in Iran is shuttering textile mills in India and Bangladesh, grounding airplanes in Ireland, Poland and Germany, and prompting energy rationing in Vietnam, South Korea and Thailand,” the Times reported last week, noting that “warning signs of a recession are flashing across countries in Asia and Europe.” Asian countries, in particular, are facing fuel shortages.How does this end? Trump’s options in Iran, as I wrote last week, are extremely limited and mostly terrible. He could restart the war. Iran appears to be trying to goad him into doing just that by firing missiles at Navy destroyers and at the United Arab Emirates. But Trump, whose fear of lengthy, boots-on-the-ground conflicts is one of his few consistently held beliefs, is hesitant to re-escalate. The Pentagon said Iran’s attacks this week do not violate the ceasefire, which seems obviously false at face value. And so, Trump is left with his second option: continue to blockade Iran in retaliation for Iran’s closure of the strait. Trump is trying to inflict enough pain on Iran—and perhaps, enough on the world, so that the few nations that count Iran as an ally can beg it to relent—in a short enough window to somehow avert global economic catastrophe. Obviously, that is is also a terrible option. It effectively amounts to playing a giant game of chicken that could wreck the global economy. Trump appears convinced—or wants to appear convinced—that Iran will cave before the U.S. does, either due to economic pressure or, perhaps, the resumption of bombing. He hinted on Monday that the U.S. would have little choice but to retaliate after Iran’s missile strikes.

Read Full Story at Source