Measures meant to rebalance America’s economy are wielded instead against the likes of Canada, India and Brazil ‘to compel loyalty to the president’
On the campaign trail, Donald Trump pledged to use tariffs to revitalise American industry, bringing jobs home and helping to make America great again. But more than six months into his administration, experts say the president’s trade war is increasingly being wielded as a political cudgel, in lieu of more traditional forms of diplomacy.
The president’s current target, India, has been unable to reach a trade agreement, and Trump appears ready to follow through with his threat to impose a further 25% tariff on Delhi – bringing the total to 50% – the joint highest levy on any country, along with Brazil.
It is a whiplash-inducing turnaround from a few months ago, when the newly minted Trump administration seemed intent on continuing a years-long bipartisan effort to deepen ties with India as a geopolitical counterweight to China. It’s part of a trend that highlights how tariffs are used as threats against countries perceived to be recalcitrant. Rather than a tool of economic coercion, Trump instead wields tariffs as a political weapon.
Dude imagine living here your entire life, advocating for improvements, voting for the best politicians you can in the primaries, voting for the uninspiring Dems in the general.
I don’t have any faith in my fellow countrymen either. I just live here.
The only thing I’d push back on is that this dumb fuck could have gotten into office and not squandered the soft power of the US. If he were a bombastic boorish idiot that kept the global order running as normal do people give as much of a shit in other countries.
I hate that 75M Americans are cheering right now, and I also hate that almost 100M Americans are just sitting on the sideline in every election going “nah, doesn’t matter enough to vote”