The stock market is an indicator of investor confidence. The last two days have watched stock indices fall about 10% (BBC). The selloff is the result of traders forecasting a recession due to Trump’s illegal tariffs; taxes are supposed to be imposed by Congress not the office of the executive. JP Morgan announced by their calculations there is a 60% chance of a US and global recession due to President for life hopeful Donald Trump‘s economic policies (Reuters).

“There is no numerically specific definition of a stock market crash but the term commonly applies to declines of over 10% in a stock market index over a period of several days” (Wikipedia).

Trump has begun claiming the tariffs are a way to bring other nations to the table to negotiate down the tariffs they impose on US imports. This is probably posturing; make a bad move look like a good one after the fact. The business community isn’t buying it, nor should they. The US economy excelled the last two years of Biden’s tenure, GDP grew by 2.8% in 2024; without Trump’s tariffs (CNN).

What Trump has managed to do, yet again, is force a wedge between the US and her allies to the benefit of Presidents for life Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Countries seeking to trade with wealthier nations will be more likely to choose a partnership with BRICS than with the US. As I pointed out in this post, economic trouble may encourage aggression by the aforementioned leaders; they may feel the economy of the US will not allow for the protection of her allies.

All of this is being manifested by Trump, without intervention by Congress. It’s time for our representatives and senators, particularly republicans, to join in a bipartisan action against Trump’s ravaging of the economy.