U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration would impose a 10% tariff on all goods imported into the United States. When coupled with higher import taxes tailored to another 60-odd countries with the largest imbalances in trade with the U.S., the result is a return to a protectionism that the world’s rightful rejected nearly a century ago.
The shock waves of “Liberation Day,” as Trump has deemed it, will be both economic and geopolitical. This restructuring of the global trade system could well push the world into recession. More significant, this new mindset is a repudiation of America’s role in the global order. This policy will marginalize the U.S., empower China — its chief rival in the geopolitical competition — and destroy much of the trust, goodwill and credit that Washington has built since the end of World War II.
“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said Wednesday. Foreign regulations that inhibit U.S. exports, currency manipulation and taxes and tariffs, he declared, have resulted in the loss of manufacturing capacity and a weakening of the U.S. economy and its national security.
