The French President saved his government by giving up socialism. It’s a precedent for tariffs.
President Trump continues to walk back his original tariff assault, and markets are pleased. They rose again Wednesday after Mr. Trump said he won’t fire the Federal Reserve Chairman and is likely to retreat from his highest China tariffs. Is this Mr. Trump’s François Mitterrand moment?
Readers of a certain age will recall how the French Socialist President swept into power in 1981 promising a far left agenda of government control over the private economy. The market reaction was brutal. Within a year he had put socialism on pause and by 1983 he had abandoned most of it. He went on to serve two terms.
No, here's what really happened. Whoever is holding Trump's assets in trust while he's president and likely many of his friends were advised in advance of the various announcements - tariffs on! Tariffs off! They knew when to sell their stocks and when to buy them back at significantly cheaper prices and made a killing off it.
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