Tag: foreign policy

When President Donald Trump slapped a fresh round of tariffs on European and Asian imports, the professional hand-wringers and legacy press clodpolls sprang into choreographed action.

Headlines and television anchors blared warnings of trade wars, economic isolation, and diplomatic fallout. The bureaucratic priesthood that worships at the altar of “free trade” without reciprocity—from Brussels to Brookings—launched into familiar homilies: tariffs are regressive, Trump is reckless, and globalism is gospel.

But let’s pause the hysteria momentarily and apply something vanishingly rare in today’s media-industrial complex: perspective.

The prevailing orthodoxy treats tariffs as anathema to prosperity—an outdated relic of 19th-century mercantilism. But this overlooks a simple truth: for trade to be free, it must also be fair. For decades, American policymakers—both Democrats and Republicans—have tolerated a grotesquely asymmetrical global trade regime that has hollowed out the American industrial base and made us dangerously dependent on foreign powers, friend and foe alike.

Trump’s critics are wrong. These tariffs aren’t a calamity. They’re a much-needed course correction

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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that the bloc has offered a “zero-for-zero tariff” trade arrangement on industrial goods with the United States in a bid to avoid a full-on trade war.

While the EU chief continued to condemn the reciprocal tariff measures enacted by U.S. President Donald Trump to rectify the long-standing transatlantic trade imbalance, as pressure from the markets began to take shape, Von der Leyen and other top eurocrats expressed willingness to negotiate with the White House.

“We stand ready to negotiate with the US,” the EU president said. “We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners. Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table.”

However, the German politician did not address other significant areas of concern expressed by the Trump administration, such as restrictions on American food imports or, perhaps more significantly, on EU tariffs against U.S. made automobiles, which currently stand at around four times the rate European cars are taxed when sent to the United States.

Von der Leyen warned that Brussels is “prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests if the trade dispute continues.” The EU chief said that Brussels will take a two-pronged approach towards the Trump tariffs, firstly by reducing internal barriers within the bloc — as opposed to reducing further barriers with the U.S. — and of “diversifying” Europe’s trading partners.

“This is why we are deepening our relations with our trading partners: You know the deals we have done with Mercosur, Mexico, Switzerland, and we are working with India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and many others. With that, we want to be very clear: Europe stands together for our businesses and with our businesses for all Europeans in the European Union and beyond,” she said.

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During an appearance on FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” White House senior economic counselor Peter Navarro explained the long-term implications for the Trump administration’s tariffs and how they will function to ensure fair trade for the United States.

“Let’s not forget, every economic report that’s been coming out in the last month has been pushing us towards expansion and strength,” Navarro said. “And we just had a blowout jobs number on Friday, 228,000 jobs. That was 50 percent higher than was predicted. So, again, there’s cognitive dissonance between what the media is saying, wanted to push us into recession, and what’s actually happening. I think you’re right, Jackie, that the tariff and trade policy is just one chapter in a book that contains all these other beautiful things that we’re going to do. If you just take, for example, the oil prices, oil prices were a dollar higher during the Biden years. For a commuting, working family, that’s about $1,000 worth of gas prices they had to pay. We’re going to get that back for them. These tariff revenues, by the way, Jackie, $600 billion, $700 billion they are going to raise a year, $6 trillion to $7 trillion over the 10-year period. They’re going to help pay for the tax cuts. I will tell you this, Jackie. Every single dollar that comes in, in tariff revenues that we take from the foreigners who have been cheating us are going to go right to the American public in terms of tax cuts and debt reduction.”

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For all the criticism of Trump and the risk of a global trade war, as Macron wants to unleash a trade war to elevate France to the top of the EU, if we just look at the data, we can see why Trump has taken this approach. Even those Republicans like Rand Paul joining the Democrats in calling tariffs a tax, none of them are looking at this issue objectively or seriously. Under the Biden Administration, not only was there a wholesale invasion of illegal immigrants, but on the trade front, he paid no attention at all, and most seemed to assume he was too senile to pay attention.

They are resoundingly calling Trump insane, mainly because they have something to lose. Free Trade has been one-sided. There is a risk that France will push to impose trade barriers against others to support their Marxist agenda. That will be devastating, but we see the world economy headed into a recession for the USA, yet a Depression for the EU. The fact that Trump imposed a 10% tariff on the UK but 20% on the EU is actually driving a wedge between Starmer’s dream of overruling BREXIT to get back into the Marxist utopia of the EU.

In addition, the belligerence of Macron is having an impact. There is a growing discontent with the European Union and the 20% tariff on the EU, with Macron vowing that full retaliation may prove to be the wedge that starts the fragmentation of the EU. Hungary has its own currency and can quickly leave the EU and resume trade with both the USA and Russia. Ukraine has long suppressed the Hungarian people trapped within the boundaries of Ukraine. The same is true for all of those members questioning the EU yet did not join the euro.

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Critics of President Trump’s April 2, 2025, executive order on tariffs argue that the policy lacks clarity or direction. Yet the order is anything but vague. In fact, it offers one of the most detailed diagnoses of America’s structural trade imbalances in decades—backed by specific data, a national security framework, and a roadmap for restoring fairness in global trade.

The problem isn’t the order’s content—it’s that few critics have bothered to read it.

At the heart of the executive order is the assertion that large and persistent U.S. goods trade deficits—totaling $1.2 trillion in 2024 and up over 40% in just five years—represent an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to America’s economy and national security.

These deficits, it explains, are not merely the result of market forces but the product of “disparate tariff rates and non-tariff barriers” erected by America’s trading partners.

The order doesn’t just assert this—it proves it. According to the World Trade Organization, the U.S. has one of the world’s lowest simple average Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) tariff rates at 3.3%.

In comparison: Brazil charges 11.2%, China 7.5%, the European Union 5.0%, India 17%, and Vietnam 9.4%.

The imbalance becomes even more striking in specific sectors. The U.S. imposes just a 2.5% tariff on passenger vehicle imports with internal combustion engines, while the EU charges 10%, China 15%, and India a staggering 70%. On network switches and routers, the U.S. imposes no tariff at all, but India levies 10%.

For apples, the U.S. allows duty-free imports; meanwhile, India charges 50% and Turkey over 60%. These are not rhetorical flourishes—they are hard data used effectively to show just how unreciprocated U.S. market access has become.

More importantly, the order does not treat trade policy as a narrow economic matter—it places it squarely within the realm of national security.

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President Trump’s tariffs are already having an impact.

Earlier this week, Trump announced a sweeping new trade policy that included a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports into the United States.

In addition to this baseline measure, the administration introduced a system of reciprocal tariffs targeting countries with significant trade surpluses over the U.S.

The tariffs vary in severity, with higher rates imposed on nations deemed to have particularly unbalanced trade relationships or who refuse to buy American goods.

However, many countries are already offering the U.S. concessions:

Vietnam — Following the announcement of a nearly 50 percent tariff on their imports, Vietnam has immediately entered negotiations with the White House.

President Trump reported a “very productive call” with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, during which Lam expressed a willingness to reduce tariffs to zero contingent on the signing of a free trade agreement.

India — India has initiated discussions with the U.S. to address the trade barriers.

Officials are reportedly exploring the possibility of reducing or eliminating tariffs on certain U.S. imports and increasing purchases of American goods.

Israel — Israel wants to negotiate terms and potentially secure exemptions or reductions and has already agreed to scrap all its tariffs on U.S. imports.

Prime Minister Netanyahu will further discuss the issue with Trump on Monday.

European Union (27 countries) — The EU has proposed lowering car tariffs and increasing purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment in an effort to negotiate exemptions and reductions.

Trump has long complained about the EU’s unwilligness to buy American cars.

Japan — Japan has signaled a willingness to negotiate by pledging increased imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) and investments in artificial intelligence.

South Korea — South Korea is looking at possible trade concessions that would involve leveraging strategic sectors like semiconductors to reach a favorable agreement.

Thailand — Facing the prospect of billions in losses, the Thai government is planning to increase imports from the U.S. and reduce tariffs on American products to address the trade imbalance. 

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