WINONA, Minn. – Stock in the locally loved company Fastenal recovered some lost ground after a near 20% drop triggered April 3 by poorly plotted and never-quite-convincingly-explained Trump tariff increases. Fastenal shares climbed to $81.24 on the New York Stock Exchange at 1:26 p.m. on Friday. They settled at $80.64 when market closed for the week at 4:30. This all remained short of Fastenal’s 52-week high of $84.88. Investment analysts remained unsure about what lies ahead with impulsive and bullying Trump behavior. The original Trump ultimatum to every country in the world to impose tariff surcharges ranging from 10% on imports from most countries and 85% on China. Trump waved graphs to support his increases, but nobody could make sense of them. The graphs inexplicably included unpopulated islands that don’t produce any exports. It all seemed slap-dash and amateurish. And why, oh why, was Russia entirely excused from any new tariffs? Analysts were insulted that Trump would believe they would accept his numbers. The graph, they said was pretty but nonsense. Over the next few days came dizzying revisions – a 90-day delay in implementing some new tariffs but not all. Exceptions for select products came and went, Then came additional tariffs for China — first from 85% to an astronomical 104%; then to 134%, and then to 145% because there had been a calculation error. Uhh? What kind of homework had anybody done? None of this inspired confidence that Trump knew what he was doing. Meanwhile, Trump’s chief trade negotiator admitted at a Congressional hearing to being left entirely out of the loop on tariff policy. Analysts took this to mean that the whole tariff exercise was a solo act by Trump with a tiny cadre of White House aides with dubious understanding of the delicate intricacies of business, of trade policy and of tariff adjusting. The analysts’ bottom line: Ever hear of a bull in a china shop?
Daily Fastenal tracking
> 52-week high: $84.88.
> Friday: $75.42.
> Monday: $72.16.
> Tuesday: $71.20.
> Wednesday: $76.47.
> Thursday: $75.79.
> Friday: $80.64.
Friday tracking
> Opening price: $75.70.
> High at 12:30 p.m.: $81.24.
> Close: $80.64.
How smart is Trump?
He calls himself a “genius” – his word. He says his IQ is off the charts. No evidence supports his claims. Trump indeed holds a degree from respected Fordham University in New York, but he has threatened to sue the university if it ever releases his grades. He then was admitted to graduate studies at the respected Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He’s little remembered there as ever being much in class. One professor has said it was embarrassing whenever Trump was called on in class. As with Fordham, Trump has threatened to sue if Wharton ever releases his transcript. For sure, Trump was neither summa cum laude, magna sum laude or even cum laude, despite his claim to the top of his class. All this has led to speculation that Trump’s millionaire father had bought his son’s way into both Fordham and Wharton and that it’s unlikely he learned much either place.
Trump as an economist
His big-picture understanding of global trade policy appears marginal at best judging from his April 2025 tariff threats, say analysts. At micro levels, he seems lost on the intricacies of international negotiations and the explosive unanticipated results from missteps. In short, say analysts, Trump is out of his league. Even his claim to be a master businessman and negotiator has been shadowed by growing doubts. His record in New York real estate is dubius if not disastrous. He has record of moving from one failed enterprise to another, skipping out on debts, and going into multiple bankruptcies. With the exception of notoriously risk-taking Deutsch Bank, Trump was toxic for new bank loans most of his career. To be sure, he was successful in licensing his brand name “Trump” on hotels, golf courses and other enterprises, which he brandished with loud, even deafening huckster-like enthusiasm. It was all image. He drove his Trump Airline into bankruptcy, His Trump University was closed down regulators as a fraud.
Trump as a negotiator
His claim to fame with a 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal,” portrayed himself as a master negotiator. The, book, however, full of hot air — or least less than it claims. He didn’t write the book. Behind the scenes Trump had fed tales purporting his genius to a ghost writer whom he paid. The writer has since distanced himself with embarrassment from the book’s themes.