To the editor:
In April, the president announced “Liberation Day” and foolishly started a worldwide tariff war against friends and foes alike. Feeling snubbed, he increased tariffs on Chinese imports by 145 percent, not knowing or caring that China has a near-monopoly on the production of rare-earth minerals and rare-earth magnets which are used in critical American products such as jet fighters, drones and electric-vehicle engines.
China retaliated and sharply reduced its exports of rare-earth magnets. The president quickly retreated, and although the final details are not known, China has agreed to approve licenses for selling rare-earth magnets to American companies.
In the Mideast, the Israeli air attacks on Iran were approved beforehand by the president. He also knew that the Israelis did not have the conventional weapons to destroy Iran’s underground nuclear development facilities. The world easily recognized that our president would authorize American bombers to finish the job.
Now, will our transactional president truly be a peacemaker, stay engaged, and strike a diplomatic deal to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons?
Meanwhile in Europe, the president has gotten the NATO countries to increase military spending to 3.5 percent of their GDPs. Now, will he stay engaged and pressure Russia with a NATO security guarantee for a free and sovereign Ukraine? Will our president be a peacemaker, or will he just continue slow walking America’s betrayal of Ukraine?
Stephen Freeman
Presque Isle
