Watch: Here’s what you should know about Trump’s ‘trade wars’

What’s going on?

Markets around the world fell on Thursday when President Donald Trump said he plans a tariff of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum imports.

A penalty on steel and aluminum coming into the U.S. could be devastating for global trade and is likely to increase prices for American consumers. The European Union, Germany, Canada and other countries have threatened to retaliate.

What did Trump say?

As usual, Trump followed up his announcement by tweeting about it.

“When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win,” he wrote. “Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!”

How will this affect me?

Short version: Your money won’t go as far. Companies that use steel and aluminum will have fewer choices and higher costs and will pass on their extra expenses to you, the consumer. The auto industry is one example. Since automakers need steel and aluminum, they’ll likely be paying more to build cars and passing on that cost to people buying them.

Glenn’s take:

On today’s show, Glenn called this announcement from Trump “the biggest blunder in his presidency” because it will hurt the economy.

“He sees this as a way to help struggling industries in the U.S., but it almost never helps,” Glenn said. “The data is clear: Protectionist policies only make things more expensive for consumers with few benefits for the protected industry.”

To see more from Glenn, visit his channel on TheBlaze and listen live to “The Glenn Beck Radio Program” with Glenn Beck and Stu Burguiere weekdays 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET on TheBlaze Radio Network.