Donald Trump does not know what he wants. –Malcolm

Yes, of course Trump will get what he wants from tariffs – he already has. Most of all, he craves attention, and he’s had it in buckets all last week, this week and presumably next. –Penelope

How can anyone tell? Does anyone know what Trump really wants? Does he have a strategy? Does he anticipate the global reaction? Maybe he picks policies out of a hat, like a lucky (or idiotic) dip. Suppose I'd better cancel any US holiday plans now that I've written this! –Michael

The answer depends on what it is he wants. If he wants the US economy to improve for American citizens, with changes such as more jobs and cheaper products, then the answer is no. But if he wants to bribe industry leaders and make the business world bend the knee to him and praise him to heaven, then the answer is very likely yes. I fear the latter is more likely as I doubt he is so ignorant as to think these blunt tariffs will improve anything, and he has shown that he knows very well how to bribe and manipulate people. –José
The only reason Trump imposed 10% tariffs on the UK is to make it less likely to join the EU (which received 20% tariffs) in retaliation against the US – not because of some mythical ‘special arrangement’. Trump doesn’t care one iota about a UK-US relationship but is using it to cause a split between us and the EU. He's a bully and if you stand up to bullies then they back down quickly. Especially if in this case it's the bully vs the UK, the EU and the rest of the world. –David

Trump is telling the American people that they will have short-term pain for long-term gain? MAGA dreamers need to face reality. If families are poor and they need to pay rent and buy food and new shoes for growing kids every year, for example, then they need the food and the shoes etc to be cheap. Landlords aren’t going to lower their rent, that's for sure. I’m sure their esteemed leader doesn’t have those worries. 

Munfacturers in the Global South pay their employees the lowest wages possible in order to serve the Global North with these cheap commodities. If the Global North didn’t need them they wouldn’t have to supply them. Now, Trump is saying that you don’t need those cheap things because the US is going to make them better. Not cheaper I might add. Yet the US has had decades to build these factories that Trump is opining about and hasn’t done it, because they have laws that prevent them applying slavery conditions and wages to workers. Workers have rights. Fair wages and working conditions – which is probably why he’s cutting out those departments that offer protections. 

Stay strong globally and we can beat him. If we want to retain our democratic values we don’t really have a choice. –Vee Lavallee