Trump is imposing ruinous tariffs because American democracy is no longer strong enough to stop him.
www.vox.com
It's just trump trying to cow the world by showing everyone what a "tough guy" he is. My sense is that as soon as Wall Street gets fed up - and that's not long in coming, that trump will back off on the tariffs and "claim victory" by lying that "the world is behaving now because of him".
I mean this is the guy that went bankrupt in the casino business! He's a great marketer and demigod, but he can't run anything successfully.