根据MS NOW的一篇新文章，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普及其政府已无法再坚持认为，最大的灾难并非他们能够控制；文章认为，与以往总统不同，特朗普的经济困境在很大程度上是“self-inflicted”。

周三上午，记者James Downie在该媒体撰文时，提到了特朗普财政部长Scott Bessent在宣布新一轮针对伊朗的制裁时的一句近来评论：“Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?”

Downie写道：“Bessent may think that’s still a self-evidently ridiculous question, George W. Bush didn’t want a Great Financial Crisis, nor did Herbert Hoover seek to start a Great Depression. Surely no White House would deliberately hurt the global economy. Yet for the first time ever, that’s not the case. At home and abroad, the past few days have laid bare the extent to which President Trump’s troubles on the economy are self-inflicted.”

Downie表示，最近债券市场因国债突破40万亿美元而出现的担忧，进一步说明了这一点。他写道，这一里程碑是特朗普在两个任期内都推动的大规模减税政策的结果，并得到了其一位共和党前任的帮助。MS NOW另一篇近期文章中，税务专家Bobby Kogan则认为，“it is a mathematical truth that had the [George W.] Bush and Trump tax cuts never been enacted, the U.S. debt ratio would be declining indefinitely.”

Downie继续指出，特朗普近期宣布将允许300,000 tons of ground beef免关税进入美国，也等同于承认其关税政策的现实：为关税买单的是美国消费者，而不是向美国出口商品的国家。此事之所以重要，是因为即便白宫如今对关税有所例外安排，承认关税会对价格造成压力，关税争论仍已成为政府如何界定通胀和供应成本的核心。

Downie写道，在政府最大的两个问题——伊朗和与加拿大的贸易战——上，白宫甚至无法声称自己是在试图“mitigate the damage.”

“伊朗战争的人道代价已经足够惨重：数万伊朗人以及近800名美军军人死亡或受伤，”Downie解释说。“总统对无法通过轰炸实现和平感到无聊和沮丧，政府正押注于新制裁——以及对其他国家发出新制裁威胁——来迫使德黑兰屈服。但Hormuz Strait并未恢复通行，油价仍然居高不下，连锁反应正扩散到加油站之外。'Companies say they are raising prices on products ranging from french fries and beer to paint and packaging to offset their own rising commodity and freight costs,' the Wall Street Journal reported last month.”

他补充说：“与此同时，白宫已经重新挑起与加拿大的贸易战。两国宣布了数十亿美元的新关税，这将使边境两侧的商品都更加昂贵。尽管美国规模可能大得多，正如经济学家Paul Krugman所写，'the U.S. economy is far more dependent on Canadian goods than most Americans realize.' For instance, Canada exports millions of barrels a day of oil to the upper Midwest and enough electricity to power some two million homes in Maine – to pick but two examples that may affect key Senate races.”