I keep hearing about how we have to refinance $9T of our national debt in the first half of this year & that this crazy tariff implementation will push those rates down, leading to significant savings on future interest payments/deficit reduction. How does this refinancing process work? Is this legitimate reasoning that could see Trump backing off tariffs/making deals this summer, preventing our economy from a long-term tailspin?
Or…at least gives the administration more time for a more surgical set of tariffs aimed at accomplishing their resharing/national security goals?
So yes, it is true that if rates come down that will lesson the pressures of debt servicing. It's also pure cope to say that's why Trump enacted the tariffs. Trump enacted the tariffs because he's against free trade. He always has been, and he's always said he has been. It's one of the few things he's been consistent on, going back to the 1980s. It's why he reversed 20 years of policy during his first term by increasing tariffs by a smaller amount. There's no need to look any further.
Decreasing the cost of servicing the debt by instituting massive tariffs with no underlying rationale is like someone deciding they are going to start burning down buildings to increase the pay firefighters get. It's A) incredibly inefficient and B) probably not going to solve the problem. If we want to decrease the cost of servicing the debt, the obvious way to do so is to decrease the budget deficit.
I keep hearing about how we have to refinance $9T of our national debt in the first half of this year & that this crazy tariff implementation will push those rates down, leading to significant savings on future interest payments/deficit reduction. How does this refinancing process work? Is this legitimate reasoning that could see Trump backing off tariffs/making deals this summer, preventing our economy from a long-term tailspin?
Or…at least gives the administration more time for a more surgical set of tariffs aimed at accomplishing their resharing/national security goals?
So yes, it is true that if rates come down that will lesson the pressures of debt servicing. It's also pure cope to say that's why Trump enacted the tariffs. Trump enacted the tariffs because he's against free trade. He always has been, and he's always said he has been. It's one of the few things he's been consistent on, going back to the 1980s. It's why he reversed 20 years of policy during his first term by increasing tariffs by a smaller amount. There's no need to look any further.
Decreasing the cost of servicing the debt by instituting massive tariffs with no underlying rationale is like someone deciding they are going to start burning down buildings to increase the pay firefighters get. It's A) incredibly inefficient and B) probably not going to solve the problem. If we want to decrease the cost of servicing the debt, the obvious way to do so is to decrease the budget deficit.