Jon Stewart Likens Trump Administration’s Tariffs to ‘Squid Recreation’

“The Day by day Present” host Jon Stewart slammed President Donald Trump‘s tariffs throughout his monologue on Monday evening, likening the administration’s financial coverage to the hit South Korean Netflix present, “Squid Recreation.”

In a phase known as “Commerce Wars,” Stewart mentioned the newest developments within the Trump administration’s financial and commerce coverage.

“Our financial system is within the midst of an attractive metamorphosis, turning from a easy caterpillar right into a useless caterpillar,” Stewart stated.

Trump’s tariffs, introduced on Wednesday, are slated to enter impact on April 9 and to impression greater than 180 nations. The tariffs begin at a baseline price of 10% and can hit each the US’s buddies and foes.

Throughout his monologue, Stewart identified that Trump had responded to criticism of his tariffs with social media posts urging Individuals to not be “weak” or “silly.”

These posts included a Fact Social publish on Friday, by which Trump wrote in all-caps: “ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL!”

“What are you doing? Your financial coverage has the identical tagline as Season 3 of ‘Squid Recreation?'” Stewart stated on Monday evening. “Solely the weak shall die in my financial system!”

The primary two seasons of Netflix’s hit present “Squid Recreation” adopted teams of deeply indebted individuals in South Korea as they competed in a sequence of lethal video games to win a life-changing sum of money. The fictional present has no single tagline however has turn into interchangeable with the matters of debt, monetary crises, and financial despair.

The sequence’ third season is about to air on June 27. Netflix ran the tagline “Put together for the ultimate sport” on promotional posters.

“And it did not must occur like this,” Stewart added of Trump’s tariffs. “Trump had so many choices to form the world financial system into the one he thought was fairer. He may have proposed some incentives to deliver again manufacturing. He may have gone sector to sector, nation to nation, negotiate higher commerce reciprocal agreements.”

“We are the richest nation on the planet, ever. We’re not the world’s victims,” Stewart stated. “If we now have inequalities on this nation, that is on us.”

“And I am not saying we won’t make changes and renegotiate issues, however it did not must be this reckless,” he added.

Stewart has persistently criticized Trump and the administration’s insurance policies, however he is removed from the one distinguished critic of Trump’s tariff insurance policies.

Joshua Bolten, the CEO of Enterprise Roundtable, stated Trump’s tariffs “run the chance of inflicting main hurt to American producers, staff, households and exporters.”

“Injury to the US financial system will enhance the longer the tariffs are in place and could also be exacerbated by retaliatory measures,” Bolten stated.

Hedge fund supervisor Invoice Ackman — who got here out strongly for Trump through the 2024 election — has known as for Trump to name a 90-day timeout on the tariffs.

And Elon Musk, Trump’s largest backer and most distinguished advisor, broke with the administration on tariffs, advocating as an alternative for a “zero-tariff” system and “free commerce zone” between the US and Europe.

Trump’s tariff announcement has roiled markets and spooked buyers. The S&P 500 is down by almost 14% yr thus far, whereas the Nasdaq Composite is down 19% yr thus far.

On Sunday, Trump stated he did not wish to see markets cratering — however that “generally you need to take medication to repair one thing.”

The White Home didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from BI.