'Win-win for Trump': GOP strategist shares theory behind bully tactic

President-elect Donald Trump has a motive behind his tariff-imposing threats — and it doesn’t involve putting levies on international trade, a Republican strategist wrote Sunday.

Susan Del Percio wrote for MSNBC that she doesn’t believe Trump really intends to put the charges on imports.

Instead, he expects the threat of him will let him get what he wants from international leaders, she wrote.

“Trump consistently talks a big game about all his plans and schemes,” she wrote.

“But just because he says something on social media doesn’t mean he will follow through. We know this. Or we should know this. Now let’s act like it.”

Del Percio was reacting to a Truth Social post last week in which Trump said, “On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States.”

She believes it’s all bluster.

“On tariffs, Trump’s actions will ultimately depend on the opinions of a few key business allies and how the markets respond,” she wrote.

“... But analysts have learned a few things since Trump was in office the first time. As this roundup of international financial analysts shows, many wary (and weary) experts are taking these pronouncements with a grain of salt.

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"‘This is how he gets stuff done, isn’t it? He throws stuff around, mentions various numbers, markets react and maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t,’ noted Robert Carnell, an economist based in Singapore.”

Del Percio reminded her readers that Trump had used the same tactic before, threatening Mexico with a 5% tariff in 2019 before reaching a deal to increase action on the border just a week later.

“Trump would love nothing more than for Mexico to respond to his 2024 tariff post with a new, more stringent border policing policy,” she wrote.

“Such an outcome would be a win-win for Trump.”

She concluded, “Trump loves tough talk, but he wants respect and admiration more than anything else. Crashing markets, spiking inflation, ugly images and bad PR — that’s not his goal.”