Trump's First 100 Days End With 3 Fights He Didn't Expect to Still Be Having

Wednesday marks **100 days since Donald Trump returned to the White House** — and the number everyone in Washington is talking about isn't that one.

It's 145.

That's the tariff rate currently sitting on Chinese goods entering the United States. A number so high that, according to trade analysts posting on X this week, it has functionally stopped normal commerce between the world's two largest economies. Not slowed it. Stopped it.

Here's what that means for you: **the supply gap is no longer hypothetical.** Importers, retailers, and manufacturers have been burning through inventory purchased before the tariffs hit. Multiple posts circulating on X this weekend put the average runway at 3 to 4 weeks before empty shelves become visible. Not in every store. But in enough of them to matter.

Meanwhile, Trump is preparing to celebrate the 100-day milestone with a rally and a fresh wave of executive action — but three fights that were supposed to be over are still very much alive.

**The courts are the first front.** Federal judges have now issued over a dozen injunctions against various Trump administration actions in the first 100 days — a pace that has no modern precedent. The administration has appealed most of them to the Supreme Court, winning some and losing others. But the sheer volume of legal pushback means virtually every major policy initiative is being implemented under a cloud of uncertainty. Supporters argue the judiciary is overstepping. Critics say the rule of law is working exactly as designed. Both sides are right about one thing: this is slowing things down.

**The budget is the second front.** House Republicans are trying to pass what Trump has called his "big, beautiful bill" — a sweeping package combining tax cuts, border funding, and spending reductions. But the math inside the GOP caucus still doesn't add up. Hard-liners in the House Freedom Caucus want deeper spending cuts. Moderates are nervous about Medicaid reductions in their swing districts. The bill was supposed to be moving by now. It isn't. And **every week of delay is a week Trump can't point to a signed domestic legislative win.**

The third fight is the one nobody saw coming 100 days ago: the internal one.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade adviser Peter Navarro represent two genuinely different visions of what the tariff war is supposed to accomplish. Bessent has signaled openness to de-escalation with China if Beijing makes credible concessions. Navarro, whose influence on trade policy dates back to the first term, sees the tariffs as a permanent structural reset — not a negotiating chip. These aren't just differences in tone. They are **fundamentally incompatible endgames**, and everyone in the business world is watching to see which vision Trump ultimately endorses.