> how can a business owner make long-term investments of the scale that would be required to start manufacturing more products in the US?
It feels like Trump and his people fundamentally don't understand this. Standing up a factory can take _years_, and depending on what it is it can be a huge capital project with even longer payback periods. It's really hard to imagine _any_ significant capital investment in manufacturing in the US until they stop changing their mind every five minutes.
(It also makes the 90 day pause stuff look, ah, questionable; you're not getting all that much done in 90 days)
The unfortunate alternate explanation for why tariffs are bouncing around like a yo-yo is that it pressures nations and businesses to reach out to Trump to make some kind of deal. Kiss the ring and you might be granted more stable conditions than your competitors.
It's mob boss shit, but that's nothing new for Trump.
Oh, I'm sure there's an aspect of that in their intentions, but it's very hard to see it working, because, well, why on earth would you expect him to honour the deal?
You'd think that, but then there's these law firms that keep making deals. Some people are convinced they can give a bully some appeasement and be left alone.
They will come back for tomorrow's lunch money, regardless of what you give them today. There is no permanent payoff. Why should there be? They know you're pliable, they might as well squeeze more out of you.