Mar 10, 2025 [Ian Bremmer](/columnist/ian-bremmer)
Donald Trump’s immediate, aggressive use of import tariffs has revealed a fundamental difference between his first and second term. Far from a mere negotiating strategy, the goal this time is to replace a global rules-based system of managed economic integration with coerced decoupling.
NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s return to the White House has ushered in a new era of American trade policy, one that represents a fundamental break from the past – including from his first term. Trump is significantly less deterred by consequences than last time. The “tariff wall” that he wants to build around the United States is not just a more aggressive version of his transactional first-term policies. Rather, it represents an effort to reshape the global economic order and America’s place in it.