'Mirage': Trump's economy exposed as a sinister 'con' by analysts

There appears to be a more sinister plot behind President Donald Trump's economy, according to two analysts.

David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, argued in a recent op-ed that Trump seems to be using bad economic figures to mask his administration's true intentions. While many media outlets will focus on the "mirage" of declining employment and labor participation during the last quarter, Dayen wrote that what is happening can be summed up as "Kleptocracy in action."

Dayen spoke with Melinda St. Louis of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch about the impact of Trump's economic policies. St. Louis argued that many of the policies themselves are largely meaningless, but have served as a great distraction.

For instance, Trump slapped a 50% tariff on goods from Brazil because of the investigation into Trump's ally, former president Jair Bolsonaro, for allegedly attempting a coup. However, nearly half of the goods the United States imports from Brazil are exempt from the tariffs, such as airplane parts and orange juice.

“This is all just a con,” St. Louis told The Prospect. “[Trump] successfully used the real anger that people have about the status quo free-trade regime to claim he was upending things, when in fact we are seeing him double down on this corporate-rigged trade model.”

St. Louis added that the "secretive nature" of Trump's trade talks should alarm Americans.

“There’s no oversight, no transparency, it’s not even clear who’s leading within the USG on a lot of these things," St. Louis said. "That provides enormous opportunity for pushing sweetheart deals for [Trump’s] billionaire buddies, for himself and his family.”

“The real goal is authoritarian power grab," St. Louis added.

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