There is an embedded assumption in the question that he does profit in some way from it, but based on his past behavior it’s a pretty safe guess.
Most of the reporting I have seen on this talks about the impact of the different tariffs, but not the “why” behind it (beyond parroting what Trump says, which is never true). I’m particularly interested in the tariffs on Canadian goods and energy. The justification about stopping fentanyl smuggling is an obvious lie. (It isn’t a real problem, and tariffs have nothing to do with drug smuggling. All but the mentally handicapped can figure that out for themselves.)
Edit: Thanks for the ideas. Causing shocks to the stock market and profiting from them sounds plausible. Using tariffs directly to extort business interests sounds even more likely.
BTW, I noticed that one of the commenters somehow changed their username after posting from “ComradeShark” (or something like that) to “Sharkfucker420” after I called him “Comrade” in my reply. I suspect that Russian influence farms didn’t shut down after the election. They’re still sowing discord on even niche social media platforms like Lemmy. (Also, rookie mistake on the username, brosky.)
The long term goal is rebuilding US industry. We have been a finance/usury economy for a very long time and it is starting to become unsustainable. By forcing American consumers to buy American products Trump creates a greater incentive for manufacture with the goal of building a more self-sufficient economy. Think vertical integration but on a nationwide scale. Trump and the capitalists he represents don’t care about drug smuggling or hurting the Canadian economy, they intend to re-industrialize and that means protectionism.
I will note that it isn’t unlikely that they do want to hurt the Canadian economy specifically so that it is easier to invade at a later point (because global warming will limit American resources) but this is secondary to re-industrialization.
About the second part regarding global warming. Trump doesn’t believe in that, so it unlikely he has plans towards that scenario.
I am almost certain he believes in it or atleast the many other capitalists he is beholden to do. They pretend it does not exist because it poses an existential threat that is unsolvable through capitalism. They cannot admit to the workers that it is real because fixing it would require deconstructing the system that empowers them.
I doubt that he cares about rebuilding US industry, Comrade. The idea of invading Canada sounds plausible, but it isn’t necessary for a successful invasion by the US military if he were to actually order that.
It could also be the US recognizing that it needs to decrease its sphere of influence in order to strengthen it. Perhaps focusing its imperialism on the Americas as global hegemony becomes unsustainable. These are the only conclusions I can come to without giving in to conspiracy.
I think it’s more fundamental than that. Little 8 year old Donald Trump walked up and down Manhattan with his father staring up at giant oil and steel buildings and thought to himself that THAT was success. It’s not really about the industry, it’s about being so wildly successful that you can put up buildings like that.
We’ve moved well past that economy but Trump is still stuck in the early 1950s.