Cato Institute vice president Scott Lincicome cited a Financial Times report indicating President Donald Trump's administration is finally beginning to back away from some of his disastrous economic policies.
Trump is admitting defeat on his hefty metal and aluminum tariffs, according to a Bloomberg report. FT explained that the products made with metals have dramatically increased the everyday items that Americans use, and the Trump administration has finally figured it out.
"The people said trade officials in the Commerce Department and U.S. trade representatives believed the tariffs were hurting consumers by raising prices for goods such as pie tins and food and drink cans," the report said.
Lincicome wrote on X, "good."
A Feb. 2026 Pew Research Center poll found that more than 70 percent of voters rated the U.S. economy as "fair or poor." While 52 percent also think Trump's policies made things worse.
"Trump admin mulls cutting steel/aluminum tariffs because these taxes 1) raise US prices; 2) are insanely complicated; 3) had other unintended consequences (incl lobbying)," summarized the trade expert.
"They're admitting, in other words, that gravity exists," Lincicome mocked.
Trump may have spent the past several months mocking the affordability crisis as nothing more than a "Democratic hoax," but it appears his aides have finally been able to convince him that not only is it real, but Americans are hurting thanks to his trade wars.
"Trump's tariff blitz has pushed U.S. duties to their highest level since before the Second World War," the report said. "But the president has repeatedly walked back some of his stiffest levies amid voter anger at the U.S.'s affordability crisis."
Lincicome highlighted a piece of the report mentioning that there has also been "an increasingly complicated lobbying process in Washington that has emerged since Trump imposed the levies."
Steel barons have made hefty profits thanks to Trump, the conservative Peterson Institute pointed out.
Trump has used his authority to declare a "national security" emergency over tariffs, claiming it gives him the right to bypass Congress and set his own trade policy.
"But the mechanism has led to a sprawling list of household goods subjected to tariffs of up to 50 percent on their metal content," the report said.
One European business leader illustrated the Trump administration's mess by describing one company they knew of that sent four identical shipping "containers of machinery to the U.S. and was charged different rates for each one."
