Geopolitics and Trump’s tariffs

Japan, South Korea, and China are fast-tracking a new trade agreement. America’s global economic influence will decline and the international role of the dollar with it.

Trump’s so-called Liberation Day last week was a clear statement of intent — the growing 100-year trend of the US intervening in other nations’ affairs is ending. It was this trend which led to America defeating communism and its dollar becoming the unchallenged international currency for international trade.

For now, everyone is concerned with the economic consequences. Will Trump’s tariffs lead to a renaissance for US industry? Or will it lead to trade wars and a slump? In the few trading sessions following Liberation Day, the markets have voted with an emphatic thumbs down.