Trump's tariffs regime aims for much worse than a global trade war

[marmar]

Trump's tariffs regime aims for much worse than a global trade war
Donald Trump is trying to dominate the world

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published April 4, 2025 9:24AM (EDT)


(Salon) Everyone knew that President Trump was going to pull the trigger on his big tariff policy on Wednesday, but he actually dropped a nuclear bomb. He put a 10% tariff on nearly every country in the world and added even more on a number of them based upon a goofy formula that reflected false assumptions at best or Trump's personal whims at worst. It sent shock waves across the globe, with the markets taking a massive tumble and economic forecasters scrambling to revise upwards their predictions for a recession. Let's just say it was not well received.

....(snip)....

The big question hovering over all these tariffs, starting with Mexico and Canada and now the rest of the world, is what Donald Trump really wants. It's not been entirely clear. He claims that Canada must stop the flow of fentanyl into our country in order to get their tariffs lifted, but there is no flow of fentanyl. He wants Mexico to stop immigrants from coming over the border and likewise stop fentanyl from coming into the country, and they've done everything asked of them to make that happen. It didn't matter.

Canada has come to believe that Trump is actually serious about wanting to annex their country and is intent upon collapsing their economy in order to make that happen. Mexico almost certainly understands that Trump is readying a military incursion of some kind, ostensibly to "take out" the drug cartels. Neither of those things has anything to do with trade. In fact, Trump himself negotiated the USMCA trade agreement just seven years ago between the three countries, calling it "the largest, fairest, most balanced, and modern trade agreement ever achieved. There's never been anything like it." This is something else entirely.

....(snip)....

We don't know what he specifically wants from all these countries. I would assume that some of them will gain his favor with elaborate obsequiousness and flamboyant flattery. Others may have to offer up something a bit more material, perhaps a nice gift of some sort. And he will punish others, particularly those he sees as having been disloyal. In other words, he's going to treat the world as if it's the Republican Party, under his thumb and answering to his whim. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/04/04/tariffs-regime-aims-for-much-bigger-than-a-global-trade/

[Walleye]

1. Even worse, in his mind, he already dominates the world

He is a textbook megalomaniac like we have never seen in our lives before. And most of the world hates his guts and are laughing at him and ridiculing him. He is so surrounded by sycophants he doesn’t know any of this.

[Quakerfriend]

2. Seems to me like he is simply following Putin's orders.

Putin wants US with no allies & completely isolated.