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Trump Naked, Now What?
Barely three months have passed in his second term, yet it feels like years. With a compulsive media presence and dominating headlines through often contradictory statements riddled with obsessive repetition, the world has begun to understand Trump—though those closest to him still don’t dare to tell the emperor he has no clothes. At the very least, we now have a slightly clearer picture of what he is causing and what he might still cause. Weeks—just a few—of perplexity and dismay, but also tacit recognition of some of his insights, and increasingly, reactions —unthinkable until recently—from countries and institutions affected by his decisions, his threats, and his attempt to establish an illiberal political order and an autarkic economy for the United States and, who knows, for the rest of the world.
Above all, the faith in tariffs plays a leading role in Trumpist rhetoric. While it has originated from heavily deficit trade balances in goods (although not in services) for the United States, he has used and manipulated tariffs not to negotiate greater reciprocity in foreign trade, but to intimidate. Canada was challenged with tariffs, coupled with expansionist bravado about turning its northern neighbor into another U.S. state. Mexico made some partial concessions and took steps in the direction Trump demanded regarding illegal immigration, fentanyl smuggling, and the...
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