Bullied and buffeted by Donald Trump’s tariffs for the past year, America’s longstanding allies are desperately seeking ways to shield themselves from the president’s impulsive wrath.
U.S. trade partners are cutting deals among themselves —- sometimes discarding old differences to do so — in a push to diversify their economies away from a newly protectionist United States. Central banks and global investors are dumping dollars and buying gold. Together, their actions could diminish U.S. influence and mean higher interest rates and prices for Americans already angry about the high cost of living.
Last summer and fall, Trump used the threat of punishing taxes on imports to strong-arm the European Union, Japan, South Korea and other trading partners into accepting lopsided trade deals and promising to make massive investments in the United States.
But a deal with Trump, they’ve discovered, is no deal at all.
That’s not strictly true. They are not “desperately seeking ways to shield themselves,” which is the POV from America. They are establishing a new world order in which America is an afterthought. That’s radically different and much more dangerous for America.
Not sure if it’s a world order where America is an afterthought, after all it’s a big market that doesn’t make sense to completely ignore, especially if Trump’s time comes to an end. But for sure it will be a world order set up in a way where states have the option to treat the USA as an afterthought when necessary.