DarylCagle.comI just put up a great new Caglecast podcast with me, Taylor Jones and Graham MacKay discussing our cartoons about China and cartoons from China about the USA, by our Chinese cartoonist Luo Jie. We’re having a TRUMP TRADE WAR CARTOON CELEBRATION! Here are some of my own China Trade War cartoons, and I’ll post some more by Luo Jie, Taylor and Graham here soon.
Donald Trump’s certainly left his mark on the global economy, with his global tariffs continuing to wreak havoc on markets across the world. Here in the U.S., Wall Street has become something of a rollercoaster ride, jumping and falling on every Truth Social post from the president
The interest in everything tariffs was evident this week, as nearly all of our most-reprinted cartoons were about Trump’s tax hike on imported goods. Our most popular cartoon, drawn by Ed Wexler, focused on the poor penguins in Antarctica unexpectedly hit by Trump’s tariffs.
Dave Whamond also drew a pair of popular tariff cartoons – a funny one featuring a keyboard warrior turned tax expert, and another mocking our dwindling 401(k)s. If you haven’t logged into your retirement account lately, don’t start now. I’d wait for all of Trump’s “winning” to kick in.
Here are our top ten most reprinted cartoons of the week:
#1. Ed Wexler
#2. Dave Whamond
#3. Dave Whamond
#4. Dave Granlund
#5. Harley Schwadron
#6. John Darkow
#7. John Darkow
#8. Dave Granlund
#9. Dave Granlund
#10. Dick Wright
I’m delighted to welcome a new cartoonist to Cagle.com and our syndication package. Dave Whamond is a brilliant gag cartoonist and children’s book illustrator; he draws the syndicated panel Reality Check and has won a boatload of NCS “Silver Reuben” Awards.
Welcome aboard, Dave! Go kick some cartoon butt!
I realize this cartoon is a bit ambiguous. Perhaps Trump is wrestling with China. Maybe Trump is “facing off” with China. Maybe there is something sexy going on with China that we can’t quite see. It is hard to tell. I went with “dance.” The USA will soon be adding another $250,000,000,000+ of tariffs to Chinese imports, which will move China to retaliate in other ways.
I draw lots of Trump-critical cartoons, but this one isn’t one of them. I think Trump’s approach to China is long overdue. I even posted this one as a “Trump Friendly” cartoon on our CagleCartoons.com newspaper syndication site – although, that is probably ambiguous too.
I’ve drawn Trump and a Chinese dragon before.
Dragons don’t have to represent China, although the chinese style dragons are more fun to draw. Here’s the dragon cartoon I drew the day after the election, when Trump defeated Hillary.
In the crush of cartoons criticizing President Trump for his trade war with China, I haven’t noticed any that are supportive of Trump’s tariffs. Trump’s promises about tariffs and renegotiating more favorable trade agreements around the world were a driving force in his election. Frankly, I don’t mind the tariffs and the approach. I consider this to be a mildly pro-Trump cartoon.
China had all they wanted in their trade relationship with the USA; Trump’s tariffs give China new and different things they want from America, that Trump should be willing to give up. That’s a negotiating tactic I see all the time as an artist working with businesses, but it seems to be lost on the pundits.
And I love drawing Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh – I’m going to stick with that. Here’s an earlier one.
