The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board took a shot at President Donald Trump's biggest "cheerleaders" after he quietly walked back a punishing furniture tariff in a thinly veiled bid to prevent Americans from seeing costs soar.
Trump threw a curveball on New Year's Eve, when his administration quietly walked back steep levies on furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities, delaying the planned 30% to 50% tariffs for a full year while keeping a still-painful 25% border tax in place.
Chiding the move as a "retreat," the board wrote Thursday, "Trump had imposed the higher tariff in the name of national security, but apparently the killer love seats aren’t as dangerous as advertised. Maybe you can now buy one without fear of assault from a foreign spy."
The move comes as prices for living-room furnishings jumped 4.6% year-over-year in November, squeezing young families trying to furnish new homes. And this is hardly Trump's first tariff backtrack. Smartphones and consumer electronics caught a break from China tariffs. Bananas, coffee, and beef got relief too.
"The retreat is another in a string of policy reversals to mute the tariff harm to American consumers," the board noted.
A feeding frenzy has begun behind closed doors at the Commerce Department, the board added, as countless industries beg for their own get-out-of-tariffs-free cards.
"Are your chances better if you donated to the Trump campaigns?" the board pondered, concluding: "You’d think the tariff cheerleaders would be embarrassed by these walkbacks, but they ignore them as they promise that the tariff golden age will soon arrive. At least for your next sofa, the golden age will have to wait until after the November election."
