Trump is caving on tariffs, and he isn’t even president yet. I’ve argued previously that the interests of the business lobby and the rich would likely take greater precedence in Trump’s second term than they did in the first. But even I didn’t anticipate that Trump would surrender on the policy dearest to his heart before Inauguration Day.

The Washington Post headline was comically euphemistic: “Trump Aides Ready ‘Universal’ Tariff Plans—With One Key Change.” Such soft-pedaling didn’t fool the markets. News of Trump’s retreat prompted a favorable response Monday morning on Wall Street, with the struggling bond market rallying briefly and the overvalued dollar falling against other currencies. These moves reflected fleeting optimism that Trump’s economic policies would not be as disastrous as feared.

But that favorable response quickly reversed after Trump stated on Truth Social that the Post story “incorrectly states that my tariff policy will be pared back. That is wrong.” For good measure, Trump labeled the story, by the Post’s excellent Jeff Stein, “Fake News.” This........

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