security and diplomacy analyst for nbc news. let s start with the tariffs. we ve seen the reaction from around the world, germany calling them unacceptable, canada doing the same. what would be the impact as somebody who sees the map and looks at the globe and understands how these pieces interact with each other. a 25% tariff on steel, 10% on aluminum come together united states, what would that mean for the world economy? i currently run a graduate school of international relations. we spend a lot of time looking at sbashinternational economic, finance, and business. there are no winners in trade wars, full stop. and we know that because as you alluded to earlier, about 100 years ago, 1918 we come out of world war i, we isolate ourselves from the world, we reject the league of nations and then we put in place the holly smoot tariffs? how d that turn out? well, we cracked the global economy and you can drop a plum
try to preserve the peace in our times. and i think that as our allies look to the united states, as other countries look to the united states they re not quite sure whether that leadership is really going to be there when they need it. and i think there is a great deal of concern, a great deal of nervousness and a lot of questions about whether or not the united states will continue to provide world leadership instead of just retreating intor o intore into fortress america. one of the kinder things you said, in your view, how far off the normal plum line of administrations are they, do they remain, still? well, i worry about it a great deal. look, president trump won the election. he is president of the united states. i think all of us believe that
and what should that something have been? the big mistake was withdrawing troops from iraq. if we kept 15,000 there, you can drop a plum line to the rise of isis and dissolution in syria. in syrian context, it was not taking out assad s air fce as part of the move to get rid of the weapons of mass destruction, aka the red line. that s the moment where we could have made a difference with the facts on the ground. it s before russia came in. mike barnicle is asking as we all are this morning, what does the united nations do anymore? we saw in 1991 the united nations come together and assad s father be part of a grand coalition that worked together to get saddam hussein out of kuwait. in this case what s happened to the united nations? you have a security council
testament and the ancient scriptures. republicans try to, especially the evangelical right. i talk about this in my book universe leans toward justice. the president did important things. number one, he laid claim to the biblical tradition of justice. as the plum line. he didn t ask what is good for just us. or for the rich. or for a particular group. what he said is we must treat all people s needs as holy. we must make sure everyone can eat of the tree of life and at least have access to the tree of life in equal measure. that is very, very basic. secondly, he did something they just don t seem to understand. he held up the importance of regulatory protections. they spit on regulations, but these are protections of the poor and the weak from the rich. and, you know, we see these as early as the book of exodus and leviticus and deuteronomy and must have power for those in power and the greedy. and last, he held up, as i
i talk about this in my book universe leans toward justice. the president did important things. number one, he laid claim to the biblical tradition of justice. as the plum line. he didn t ask what is good for just us. or for the rich. or for a particular group. what he said is we must treat all people s needs as holy. we must make sure everyone can eat of the tree of life and at least have access to the tree of life in equal measure. that is very, very basic. secondly, he did something they just don t seem to understand. he held up the importance of regulatory protections. they spit on regulations, but these are protections of the poor and the weak from the rich. and, you know, we see these as early as the book of exodus and leviticus and deuterotomy and