Widely mocked, but Trump is making permanent changes, by reader Bob.

Mocking Trump is a tired sport these days and it’s everywhere. It’s hardly news.

Whether you support him or not, there’s one point that I don’t think is being aired widely. Some of his more controversial actions won’t actually be reversed after he leaves the stage even if he’s replaced by a Democrat. He’s made some changes that will stick.

I read a long critical piece in the New Yorker online section recently about his deep distrust of anything German and how hard it has been for the German diplomatic and political elite to adjust, especially to his jibes about NATO funding. The article concedes that German defence expenditure was previously and still is too low and that it is now on an unstoppable upward trend. Obama cajoled them politely and Trump hammered the point home.

Similarly, his tariffs against Chinese imports are changing commercial product flows across the world and won’t be actively reversed by a new administration. I doubt if the Chinese will ever enjoy such a trade advantage versus the USA again.

As an example, I advise a UK based business which exports a lot of testing equipment and even the use of Chinese plastics for housings are subject to US sanctions on goods exported from the UK to the U.S. Other sources of these materials are now being used and the Chinese will be cut out of this business for the longer term.