How Destructive Will Tariffs Be? Let’s Ask Umair
Umair Haque reminds us that the U.S. Presidential election was America's Brexit
We are going to see a ruinous wave of inflation. When I say ruinous, I mean it. 25%? That’s an enormous rate for a tariff. Normally, if [we] want to discourage trade or investment, we’d set that rate at maybe 5 or 10%. Not only do these guys have no idea what they’re doing, they have no idea what kind of ruin they’re about to unleash.
In short order, Americans are going to be [paying] catastrophically more for nearly everything on the shelves. They already can’t afford it, which we know because of course credit balances are skyrocketing and living standards are falling.
But that’s only sort of the small story. This isn’t just “about tariffs,” but an approach to the economy which also appears to include, for example, attempting to lay off…the entire government.
This quote is from an article written by Umair Haque,1 a pre-eminent doomscrolling source who often happens to be right about a lot of things, particularly anything related to Brexit, to which he has frequently compared the recent American disastro-election.
The 25% tariff America’s most famous bankruptcy artist threatens to impose will hit your wallets hard. Whether he follows through on them doesn’t alter the more general problem related to his goal of economic isolationism, so don’t let his economic chaos let you think it does.
If he backs down on the tariffs, and he probably will, that doesn’t change the general dynamic of his isolationist policies and his general insanity. He may or may not impose them. He may or may not impose some on other countries. Who knows? He’s like a clown popping out of a box. Anything might happen.
Other nations, ranging from Uruguay to South Africa, and every country in between, aren’t waiting on the orange madman of mendacity’s chaotic bellicosity to make adjustments.
They’re taking steps to disentangle their economies from the United States now. Tariffs or not, America’s role in the world’s economy is shrinking.2 The world’s nations are scampering away like Bambi in the forest fire.
For example, check out this recent splash from Semafor, which usually happily sanewashes everything Trump:3

The worst thing? Canada is pissed.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford recently wrote on Twitter that Ontario would ban American companies from earning provincial contracts, and that “Ontario won't do business with people hell-bent on destroying our economy.”4
A Canadian friend of mine emailed me to eventually say, after a few shared complaints about sports:
“I can’t tell you how many people here are furious. It’s not even about the tariffs. The asshole may be bluffing. Trudeau will probably cut some stupid deal with him and Americans will say, wow! Trump is amazing!*
What pisses us off is that our country has been your best friend for as long as anyone here can remember. He treats us like an enemy? What is that about? Would an enemy send a bunch of people to help fight your fires? Seriously people here are outraged. They’ll stay that way because of the election. It showed how stupid Americans really are. There’s some real hate growing here and it scares the shit out of me.”
*Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum caved today by agreeing to send 10,000 Mexican troops to the border to temporarily appease Diaper Donald. DD has said he’ll delay tariffs on Mexico for a month until the results come in from Sheinbaum’s appeasement. But nobody, not even DD, knows what the expectation is of Mexico, which of course drives another small stake into the economy.5
As Umair points out, at the end of the day, no matter how much of Trump’s tariff threats are bluster, as my Canadian friend thinks they are, what matters most is that Americans essentially voted for the American version of Brexit.
Unlike Umair, I won’t explain that to my audience. Most of you know what he means (if not, do read his article).
Trump’s election signals that a massive economic wall will be erected around this country. MAGA wants this. They’ll get it.
When low-information voters voted for Trump instead of Kamala, they voted for MAGA, too. It is his base’s appetite for lechery, isolation, and anger that he will feed. He cares not a whit about the casual voters who voted for him. They, along with the rest of us, will also pay the economic price for American isolationism, but he won’t care.
Russian President Vlad Putin’s response to Ukraine-related sanctions is a MAGA rallying cry. Putin has weathered the storm by successfully growing domestic industries for everything from cheese to, well, a few other things. There’s a substantial black market assisting him, so it is difficult to measure the other parts of the Russian economy he’s grown, especially since the Russian press is now his official cheerleader (sound familiar?).
I also have a Russian friend, who is stuck in the U.S. because he’s afraid to go home, who wrote in an email to me, “Everyone hates us.”
Is that what we want?
The MAGA crowd, however, believes that the American economy can, and should, disengage from the world economy. We can produce everything! We don’t need you, world!
Check out the response below to a Tweet on Twitter (now with an official “Heil Hitler” logo) that featured a Fox News bit on the range of products that will be affected by tariffs.
Again, it’s worth noting that the tariffs against Mexico are temporarily halted. Trudeau will likely cave to some bizarre demand, too, in “negotiations” where Canadian diplomats sit in a room with MAGA “diplomats,” roll their eyes, shake their heads, and say something like, “Okay, sure, dipshits, we’ll send a few Mounties to the border and make a high profile seizure of fentanyl to satiate your drooling leader.”
The general trend toward isolationism, however, will continue.
As for MAGA? This is what we are up against:
My prediction is that the Canadian tariffs will magically disappear too, thanks to the Magician of Mendacity’s brilliant negotiating skills.
But the isolationism that Umair speaks of is firmly in place. The world’s nations are preparing, even if most Americans aren’t.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to read the notes! :-)
Notes
Umair. 2025. “Prepare for Implosion, Or, This Is America’s Brexit Moment.” The Issue. January 31, 2025. https://www.theissue.io/prepare-for-implosion-or-this-is-americas-brexit-moment/. The article was clearly rushed out of his computer into cyberspace, hence my edits using brackets.
Many people, including some Democrats, are saying yay to this. The result of such shrinkage is that the U.S. becomes Russia. Sure, we can produce everything ourselves. Alone, with no real check on pricing, no competition for U.S. corporations, very limited access to resources, etc. The list of negative impacts is much larger than this.
Akwagyiram, Alexis. 2025. “🟡 South Africa Hits Back at Trump | Semafor.” Semafor.com. February 3, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/newsletter/02/03/2025/south-africa-hits-back-at-trump I didn’t even mention the obvious inevitability, now confirmed, that Apartheid Elon would begin to attack South Africa’s Black majority government’s efforts to achieve some kind of reparations for the years of damage done by Apartheid.
“Bonnie Crombie Set to Reveal Liberal Tariff Plan | CBC.” 2025. CBC. 2025. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/livestory/pc-leader-doug-ford-highlights-latest-ontario-tariff-response-9.6632941.
Not that small a stake. The Fed today released stock market guidance by suggesting that people not overreact to the tariff squabble. The Fed is one of the few remaining governmental rooms with adults that the new administration hasn’t yet burned to the ground.