Readers React: Is there any strategy to what Trump is doing on trade and for farmers?

To the editor: President Trump’s bailout to farmers for a problem he created was not an act of benevolence, but a campaign contribution to himself. His independent decision was to insulate himself from his core supporters’ angst, a result of the trade war.

Trump seems to make his decisions first based on what’s best for him and his supporters. This is in contrast to President George H.W. Bush, who infamously promised, “Read my lips, no new taxes,” then broke his pledge when he saw the need to do so to reduce the government’s deficit. He lost a second term because of it.

Trump, frightfully, does not have that capacity.

Paul Shubunka, Santa Clarita

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To the editor: Like the man or not, Trump’s new trade truce with the European Union is a stroke of strategic brilliance.

He threatens tariffs on our European trading partners, giving them back their own medicine that they’ve been doling out for years, and they’re the first to cry “uncle.” Now both sides are working toward zero tariffs, and we’re leveling the playing field. The same plan is in play for China.

Sure, Trump is difficult to like on a personal level, but this isn’t a popularity contest. America is telling the world that we will no longer be played for suckers by those trying to take advantage of our wealth.

Richard Schultz, Sherman Oaks

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