Unsettling developments and policies tumble out of the Trump White House, upending geopolitics, unsettling millions, and disrupting markets and business.
Inside America, Trump breaches norms, and badmouths or defunds time-worn institutions.
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And his intimidation grows abroad, punctuated by the mistreatment of Ukraine’s President in the Oval Office and continued with tariff and annexation threats against allies while treating psychopath Vladimir Putin with kid gloves.
Every day, Trump’s antics and semantics dominate the media, and his yo-yo stances keep the world on edge, tank stock and commodity markets, and concern consumers and investors.
“The man in the White House thrives on chaos on a daily basis… uncertainty which is driving people nuts,” said investment banker William Cohan. “The market is up and down based on whether or not the `chaos agent’ wants to have tariffs. You cannot run a business like that.”
You also cannot run a household, a corporation, a nation-state, or the world like that.
However, Trump is erratic, has thrived, and ridden roughshod over rules and laws.
Now he is the most powerful person in the world, and delights in trampling international laws and ignoring economic or political agreements without concern for commitments or consequences. He has weaponized tariffs for financial reasons, to score political points, weaken rival economies, or get even.
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Some tariffs, based on trade fairness, are justified, such as the “reciprocal tariffs” that began on April 2 – dubbed “Liberation Day” in Trump-speak – these address abuses.
India, for instance, has 70% tariffs against many American imports, but its exports will now face the same barriers before entering the United States. China, a geopolitical foe and serial trade cheat, will soon face 60% tariffs or more.
Trump also imposes purely “political” tariffs such as the 25% levy that will be placed on imports from any nation that buys oil from Venezuela.
He is also going after members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group. He will impose 100% tariffs if they try to find an alternative to the US dollar as the dominant currency underpinning global trade.
“We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Most White House tariffs are simply protectionist and aimed at shielding American producers and “reshoring” manufacturing jobs back to America from trading partners such as Canada and Mexico.
However, the Economist called his tariffs “Trump’s economic delusions” and said they won’t save jobs, make America more prosperous, or protect its industrial base.
It warns: “With his aggressive and erratic protectionism, Trump is playing with fire.”
His attacks on Mexico and Canada will disrupt one of the most integrated and prosperous supply chains propagated by American-owned automakers to benefit American consumers.
And they may not work.
In the past, reciprocity tariffs created chaos and were abandoned in the 1920s because they failed.
“Tariffs increase input costs, hurt profits, raise prices to consumers,” it wrote.
Trump’s other economic measures, such as Elon Musk’s aggressive and upsetting cost-cutting measures, plans for significant tax cuts for wealthier Americans, and attempts to increase the dollar’s value, also place the “world economy at a dangerous moment.”
Trump’s mercantilism is unsettling enough, but he’s also committed to imperialism and threatens to annex friendly and sovereign nations or economies.
Canada is on the hit list, along with Denmark’s Greenland, and he also intends to indenture valiant Ukraine by scooping up all rights to rebuild and develop its natural resources.
These three targets are shocking, but if successful, they will make America even more globally and economically dominant.
His voracious agenda was not publicized before the election, but began to unfold when Trump sent his son to the gigantic Arctic island to talk about a takeover just before taking office.
More recently, the President dubbed Canada the “51st state” and announced that America “must have Greenland.” He sent his attack dog, Vice President JD Vance, to demoralize and badger Greenland into joining the United States. It won’t work and has upset Europeans and others.
Vance was not officially welcomed but gave speeches at the US base in Greenland, claiming that the Danes had failed to govern or protect the place adequately and promising to provide money and security against Russia and China.
It was audacious – and widely mocked – but the significance cannot be understated: The President of the United States officially launched a geopolitical policy of Economic Imperialism by announcing an unfriendly economic and political takeover of a sovereign jurisdiction. (It was interesting that Putin sarcastically congratulated Trump for his Greenland ambition, stating that Russia had no interest in taking it over, but also noting he was concerned about NATO’s increasing interest in the Arctic region).
Such cavalier disregard at the top undermines America’s reputation as a trustworthy partner.
This will result in tariff blowback and severe economic costs down the road. For instance, Europe – next on his hit list, along with Japan and South Korea – will be hit with tariffs as well as the withdrawal of US troops and military support.
This will lead to counter-tariffs as well as more militarization and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
“Trump’s economic policies are adrift,” said NYU Professor Scott Galloway on CNN. “He’s making irrational, non-economic decisions around tariffs involving trusted partners and ripping up old agreements that led to mutually beneficial trade. In Canada’s case, it’s supposed to be about fentanyl across the border, but the amount of fentanyl that’s been found could fit in a backpack … and for this, we alienate our closest ally? He recklessly, rashly, inexplicably hurts them.”
Even “Trumpie” podcaster Joe Rogan waded in on this one, calling Trump’s trade war with Canada “stupid” and “ridiculous.”
But none of these punches lands in the Oval Office, and unusual decision-making and world-changing developments will afflict this reign for the next few years in all matters.
He will continue to hint, announce, drop, and revise continuously. It’s not only about trade but about foreign policy.
For instance, Trump tore up the Iran nuclear deal years ago and now wants it again.
He also wanted a one-state solution in Israel, but now wants to buy Gaza and forcibly displace its two million people to impoverished African countries.
Allegedly, Trump’s agenda – from tariffs to annexations – is about putting “America First,” but the repercussions against America will roll out economically, financially, and geopolitically for years.
New trade alliances and trading blocs will form to retaliate, protect, and impose tariffs against America’s protectionism. Trump warned Canada, Europe, and others that they would be punished severely if they formed such trading blocs. But this week, Japan, South Korea, and China united to create a trilateral free trade agreement in response to America’s tariff increases.
Despite Trump bullying, there will be counter-tariffs and discrimination, hidden or open, against Americans, their products, services, businesses, and their attempts to bid on foreign government contracts.
Trump has declared open economic war against friendly trading partners.
For instance, his intention to take over Ukraine’s economic sovereignty in return for Washington’s assistance is accompanied by his warning against Europeans from doing the same.
Europeans are incensed; some even support deploying “the nuclear option” or denying intellectual-property protections for American companies, such as copyrights and trademarks.
This alone would strike Trump’s Silicon Valley supporters in the solar plexus. It will also lead to all-out trade and economic war and the collapse of more post-war institutions.
No matter how threatening Trump gets, the leaders of countries attacked by his regime won’t allow their economic sovereignty to be held hostage or seized.
President Donald Trump can believe all he wants that his tariffs mark America’s “liberation” from the world order. But in Canada, Greenland, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Ukraine, America’s “liberation” looks like “subjugation.” And all these former partners will get even.
Reprinted from[email protected] – Diane Francis on America and the World.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.