NEW YORK: Watching President Donald Trump reveal in the Oval Office what he described as “a tremendous trade deal” with the UK reminded me of the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, the show that was literally about nothing.

To be clear, it’s not a deal but rather a framework for an agreement. In other words, US and UK negotiators still have a lot of work to do in coming weeks (perhaps months or even years like these things usually take?) to hammer out the details. 

For now, the idea is to have the UK fast-track American goods through customs and reduce barriers on “billions of dollars” of agricultural, chemical, energy and industrial exports, including beef and ethanol.

More importantly, what was announced fails to accomplish any of the three objectives Trump originally put forward leading up to Apr 2’s “Liberation Day” for levying tariffs on America’s trading partners. 

As a refresher, the first was using tariffs (which Americans pay for) to raise tax revenue to help close the federal budget deficit and pay for an extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that is due to expire this year. The second was to bring manufacturing that migrated overseas back to the US, igniting a new “Golden Age” of America. The third was to achieve foreign policy goals.

WHAT WAS THE POINT?

None of those three objectives came up in Thursday’s announcement. So, what is the point? Trump’s trade war has upended the economy. The uncertainty he unleashed has paralysed businesses and caused measures of consumer confidence to collapse. Companies are openly warning of empty shelves coming sooner rather than later. On Thursday, a monthly survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed the outlook for inflation is soaring among households at the same time as they see future earnings growth slowing significantly. That’s a recipe for sta...