WASHINGTON ― With a world economy on edge since he declared a trade war with the rest of the planet last week, President Donald Trump offered no reassuring words Monday and instead provided yet more evidence that he understands little to nothing about international trade, but is nevertheless convinced that he does.

From claiming that the European Union was created specifically to “screw” the United States to conflating trade deficits with domestic budget deficits to, yet again, misstating how tariffs are applied and on whom, Trump made clear to anyone watching his Oval Office question-and-answer session that he has no intention of ending or even pausing the turmoil he has set off.

“We’re not looking at that,” he said when asked whether he is open to a pause in his trade war. “We have many, many countries that are coming to negotiate deals with us, and they’re going to be fair deals. And in certain cases, they’re going to be paying substantial tariffs.”

“Holy shit that’s dumb. And troubling,” University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers said of Trump’s latest statements. “The only way to interpret what’s going on is that trade policy is entirely at the whim of one man, and no one inside the White House is willing to stand up to him.”