Donald Trump and Taylor Swift are sharing a headline yet again, this time courtesy of new data relating to the president’s controversial and divisive tariff policies.
This week, Trump imposed the strict tariff he had been yammering about during the presidential race, slapping a hefty 25% tax on goods from Mexico, Canada and a 10% tariff on goods from China. Later, Trump admitted that the tariffs would cause “a little pain” for Americans (despite his earlier protestations otherwise), before agreeing to pause the imposition of the Canadian tariffs after reaching an agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
While the suspension is good news amid the two leaders’ months-long tit-for-tat in the media, the damage has already been done, at least according to a new poll about the popularity of Trump’s tariffs. As reported by CNN, the data shows that a stunning 51% of American registered voters oppose Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, with only 31% in support of the economic policy. The same data also showed that, last month, just 2% of voters believed Trump should focus on tariffs as part of the early days of his second presidency.
And funnily enough, that’s where Swift comes in. CNN reports that Google searches for the term “tariffs” are up by 2400% compared to last year, with the term now being searched more than Taylor Swift. When an otherwise-boring economic term is being sought out more than a globally recognized pop star, you know something is amiss in the discourse. Of course, this data should perhaps be expected, since Trump’s economic plan was consistently challenged throughout the presidential race.
In October, 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists signed an open letter describing Trump’s economic agenda as “counterproductive,” particularly calling out his “inflammatory” tariff proposals. Then, in December, Ontario Premier Doug Ford preempted Trump’s Canada tariffs by threatening to halt the supply of energy to 1.5 million houses located in New York, Michigan, and Minnesota, as a last resort.
All of it came to a head this week when Trump announced plans to officially impose the policy, prompting an impassioned speech from Trudeau this week in which he announced retaliatory tariffs and said they work to “split us apart instead of bringing us together.” Thankfully, the imposition of the policy was paused for a 30-day period as the two leaders negotiated, with Trudeau addressing Trump’s key concerns around the flow of Fentanyl between the borders.
Trudeau appointed a “fentanyl czar” in response to these concerns, allowing for the pause in the tariff impositions. The Canadian PM is affording grace for someone who mockingly referred to him as a governor and floated plans to annex his country, so Trump could take a page from his book of what leadership actually looks like. For her part, Swift is likely lamenting being brought into yet another news story pertaining to Trump, with Republicans launching a full-scale attack on the pop star following her endorsement of Kamala Harris in November.
In response, Trump famously shared a social media post declaring his “HATE” for the pop star, while vice president and noted cat lady-hater JD Vance said voters would be deterred by a “billionaire celebrity” like Swift. Oh, a MAGA supporter also responded to Swift’s endorsement by purchasing a Taylor Swift guitar only to smash it with a hammer…so there’s that. I bet she’s just waiting for the day when she will no longer be stained by Trump’s orangeness.
