- I read Donald Trump’s 1987 book “The Art of the Deal” to try to understand his tariff tactics.
- Several lessons and lines stood out to me, like his dismissal of traditional “number-crunchers.”
- From aiming high to a focus on physical goods, here are seven illuminating tidbits from the book.
I’m not an economist. The last real math class I took was advanced algebra my senior year of high school. Needless to say, the recent tariffs have made my head spin.
But I am an avid reader. I was an English major in college and am a member of two book clubs. That’s why I turned to “The Art of the Deal,” a 1987 book credited to President Donald Trump, to see if it gave me any further insight into Trump’s tariff strategy. It details Trump’s childhood and real estate deals alongside snappy one-liners of business advice.
When I wrote this piece on April 9, Trump had just announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs for some countries, sending US stocks soaring after a major sell-off. He raised the tariff rate on China to 145% and kept a baseline of 10% on imports from most other countries. It remains to be seen how negotiations will play out.
This nearly four-decade-old book showed me tactics reflected in Trump’s recent actions. Here are seven insights from “The Art of the Deal” that give some insight into Trump’s tariff strategy.
Representatives for the White House did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
'I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing'
Trump said — or, really, the journalist Tony Schwartz, who ghost-wrote "The Art of the Deal" said — that his dealmaking philosophy is simple.
"I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I'm after," he said in the book. "Sometimes I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases, I still end up with what I want."
His recent moves reflect as much. Despite some recent pullbacks on his reciprocal tariffs, Trump originally levied far bigger taxes on foreign nations than most anticipated. With an initial 20% tax on the European Union and 46% on Vietnam, for example, he certainly aimed high.
When it comes to China, he keeps "pushing and pushing." At the time of writing, he had imposed a 145% tariff on China after it hit the US with a retaliatory tax. The risks of this back-and-forth are outlined just a few paragraphs later in "The Art of the Deal."
"I still hope you won't follow my advice," Trump wrote of those like him who have "the genes" to be good at business. "Because that would just make it a much tougher world for me."
'I don't hire a lot of number-crunchers, and I don't trust fancy marketing surveys'
When announcing his tariffs, Trump defied many mainstream economists, prominent CEOs, and conventional political wisdom. As markets cratered, he insisted that his plan was sound.
"I do my own surveys and draw my own conclusions," he wrote in the book, saying that he crowdsources opinions until he begins to get "a gut feeling."
Though Trump eventually paused many additional tariffs for at least 90 days, he persisted through days of criticism from billionaires and even his closest advisors, including Elon Musk. Now, Trump and some in his orbit are saying that he proved the critics wrong and perfectly executed his plan.
The president referenced his gut feelings when speaking to reporters on Wednesday about a Truth Social post announcing the 90-day pause.
"We wrote it from our hearts," he said.
'All's well that ends well'
This line references a prolonged legal battle with residents at New York City's 100 Central Park South. As Trump told it in the book, he wanted to knock down the building after buying it. The tenants eventually ended up keeping their apartments. Still, Trump wrote that the delay actually amounted to a win since he ended up making more money due to market swings (though some tenants maintain that they came out on top, as the New York Times reported).
"All's well that ends well," Trump wrote at the end of the chapter, noting his large profits.
The same philosophy is on full display with the tariff negotiations. Amid financial and political turmoil, Trump urged everyone in a post on TruthSocial to "BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well."
When Trump issued his 90-day pause, he said that people "were getting a little bit yippy" and the bond market was "tricky."
"The bond market right now is beautiful," he continued, indicating that, for now, all as he sees it has "ended well." Some in the business world aren't as sure.
'We won by wearing everyone else down'
Trump said he successfully negotiated a deal regarding a property on NYC's West 34th Street by exhausting the competition.
"In the end, we won by wearing everyone else down," he wrote in the book. "We never gave up, and the opposition slowly began to melt away."
He's claiming much the same type of victory now. In his Truth Social post announcing the 90-day pause, he said that more than 75 countries had called to negotiate.
The book focuses more on the physical world, like buildings
"The Art of the Deal" recounts Trump's real estate triumphs — though reporting shows he hasn't always been as successful as he often claims — and focuses on buildings like the Commodore Hotel and Trump Tower. In it, Trump muses about architectural styles, concrete, and the color of marble. He does write extensively about prices and touches on market conditions, but his focus on the physical world jives with his current focus on American manufacturing.
"Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country," the president said when he first announced the tariffs on April 2. In a Truth Social post on April 8, he said he's the "President who stands up for Main Street, not Wall Street."
Though Trump ultimately cited the bond market when issuing a 90-day pause, his focus on physical goods and "Made in America" is subtly woven into the pages of "The Art of the Deal."
The media and critics can't be trusted, but press is generally a good thing
Throughout the book, Trump criticizes the media, contending that it's set against him. He quoted a letter he addressed to an architecture critic: "Your recent article is an obvious 'setup' in preparation for the negative review you intend to do."
Still, Trump wrote repeatedly that the press is an unavoidable and important part of being a public figure and that even negative coverage can work in his favor.
"From a pure business point of view, the benefits of being written about have far outweighed the drawbacks," he wrote. He added that more "outrageous" projects tend to attract more attention.
On the tariff front, Trump's boldness has dominated coverage, even as he maintains that the media is skewing the narrative — his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters on Tuesday that many in the media "clearly missed 'the art of the deal.'"