CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN Donald Trump's tariff tantrum is a trade war climbdown dressed as victory

Donald Trump has once again proven that his self-proclaimed business genius is little more than a hollow myth, built on bluster and bankruptcy.

His reckless tariff crusade, which he insisted would “Make America Great Again,” has instead triggered chaos across global markets, wiping out trillions in value and shaking investor confidence. And now, in a humiliating climbdown, he has announced a 90-day pause on his disastrous trade war - a desperate face-saving exercise cloaked as strategy.

Let’s be clear: this is not a calculated move by a master negotiator. This is a panicked retreat by a man who doesn’t understand the very basics of international trade or economic cause and effect.

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Trump’s approach to tariffs has been as simplistic as it is catastrophic - slap them on, bark about winning, and expect the rest of the world to capitulate. But the world didn’t play along.

Nations like China and the European Union didn’t fold; they hit back with their own countermeasures, sending shockwaves through American agriculture, manufacturing, and tech industries.

Trump seems genuinely baffled that other countries don’t operate like contestants on one of his reality shows. He thought they’d buckle, maybe throw in a compliment or two while handing over economic concessions.

Instead, they retaliated with precision, exposing the paper-thin logic behind his tariffs and demonstrating that the global economy is not his personal playground.

This blunder isn’t an isolated miscalculation. It’s part of a long, embarrassing pattern. Trump’s record in business is littered with failure - six bankruptcies, failed casinos, a fraudulent “university,” a defunct airline, and an endless string of flopped ventures.

If failure were a product, Trump would have patented it. Yet somehow, he’s managed to con millions into believing he’s a financial wizard.

In truth, he’s perhaps the most economically illiterate president in US history. And let’s not let his advisers off the hook.

The chorus of enablers around him - people who should know better - have fanned the flames of this trade war. Either they’re too cowardly to challenge his whims, or they share his delusions. In either case, they’re complicit in the damage done.

Now, after markets tumbled and pressure mounted, Trump has blinked.

The 90-day delay is not a show of strength. It’s an admission of failure. And yet, with characteristic gall, he will undoubtedly frame this debacle as a victory.

He’ll claim, as he already has, that countries are “kissing his a**” - a statement as vulgar as it is delusional. In reality, no one is kissing anything. They’re rolling their eyes at a man whose presidency continues to careen from one economic misstep to the next.

This isn’t leadership. It’s not strategy. It’s a farcical bluff that’s finally being called out. Trump may try to spin his way out of this corner, but the truth is plain to see: this 90-day pause isn’t a triumph - it’s a surrender. And the world knows it.