My assumption is that Trump understands what a mess he has gotten himself into and wants to extricate his head, without losing face. Congressional action will allow him to do that because he can blame congress for undoing his tariffs which was a good idea all along. This is the only way out.
I don't see what would lead you to this conclusion. Multiple members of his cabinet have direct said the plan will do this, so it's not like they don't know they're collapsing the economy. His secretary of commerce (?) has published papers about wanting to remove the US dollar as the reserve currency and destroy our status as the hegemon in pursuit of us becoming a T-shirt sweatshop nation instead of an infotech powerhouse.
Heck, even Musk accidentally said the quiet part aloud on Twitter about burning it all down.
You are laboring under the dubious assumption that Trump gives any fucks about the US economy. (And that, even more dubious, that the real-life congress will manage more than bloviation on TikTok.)
This is a pure klept move. Who knows if he understands that the US manufacturing iPhones and cars-with-no-foreign-parts isn't possible in his lifetime (or most of ours), but regardless, he understands that this is his chance to finally get rich for real after all that cosplayin', and doesn't need to understand the rest.
> dubious assumption that Trump gives any fucks about the US economy
I do believe that. If the economy crashes he will lose support from his billionaire friends. Also, the economy (along with immigration) was one of the top reasons people voted for him. I do believe he doesn't want to lose popular support. Currently GOP senators won't speak up against him because they know MAGA supporters will turn on them. But if he loses support GOP senators will be emboldened.
