Trump turns peacemaker as oil spike threatens summer vacationers

(Originally published June 24 in “What in the World“) Back to wrecking the U.S. economy.

The dollar resumed its decline after Trump announced Iran and Israel would observe a ceasefire after U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The dollar had enjoyed a brief resurgence amid fears of wider war in the Middle East. But the ceasefire allowed investors to resume worrying about Trump’s war on the U.S. economy and how best to remove their assets from it.

While the attacks provided Trump a welcome diversion from domestic strife, he was clearly nervous that his attack would backfire at the pump just as beleaguered U.S. consumers hit the road to enjoy a dangerous summer heatwave. Iran could still, after all, spike the Strait of Hormuz, preventing ships from carrying all that Gulf (including Iranian) crude to market. Oil prices, which had been falling for the past couple of months, have been soaring amid the rising Mideast tensions, with Brent climbing 23% this month before receding sharply overnight. “KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN,” Trump shouted on social media. “I’M WATCHING!”

Trump’s battle against cheap, imported labor to ease the shortage of workers willing to do the tedious sweatshop jobs he hopes to bring back to American factories is, meanwhile, going gangbusters. The Supreme Court has ruled to allow Trump’s administration to deport allegedly illegal aliens without due process to any country willing to take them, even if the suspects don’t come from there and will almost certainly face danger upon arrival — like South Sudan. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are roughly 400,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs in the U.S.