There is an embedded assumption in the question that he does profit in some way from it, but based on his past behavior it’s a pretty safe guess.
Most of the reporting I have seen on this talks about the impact of the different tariffs, but not the “why” behind it (beyond parroting what Trump says, which is never true). I’m particularly interested in the tariffs on Canadian goods and energy. The justification about stopping fentanyl smuggling is an obvious lie. (It isn’t a real problem, and tariffs have nothing to do with drug smuggling. All but the mentally handicapped can figure that out for themselves.)
Edit: Thanks for the ideas. Causing shocks to the stock market and profiting from them sounds plausible. Using tariffs directly to extort business interests sounds even more likely.
BTW, I noticed that one of the commenters somehow changed their username after posting from “ComradeShark” (or something like that) to “Sharkfucker420” after I called him “Comrade” in my reply. I suspect that Russian influence farms didn’t shut down after the election. They’re still sowing discord on even niche social media platforms like Lemmy. (Also, rookie mistake on the username, brosky.)
This is what I’ve been sitting on for the last few days. He is trying to push us to the point that our only ally left could be Russia, by economically and politically alienating our current allies. If/when it got to that point, we’d take whatever we could get. Without us, NATO in it’s current form also loses a ton of power, further making the return of the Soviet Union possible.
And yet this is like…some wild theory that can’t be conceived. He’s been saying for years he wants to reunify.