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From Trumpism to Carneyism: The quest for coalitions of the willing on trade
A Global Trade Organisation is one idea that has been floated to rescue a multilateral trading system in thrall to the US and its capricious president
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A protester wearing a mask of Mr Donald Trump during a rally in Seoul on Jan 27 condemning the abrupt raising of tariffs – a favourite trade weapon of the US President.
PHOTO: AFP
After more than a year of the second Trump administration, we have a good idea of how Trumpian trade strategy works. Tariffs are the universal hammer, and every problem looks like a nail.
The US runs a trade deficit with a certain country? Tariffs are the answer. Or, the US has a trade surplus with certain countries (Singapore and Brazil being cases in point)? Tariffs are still invoked. Two countries are locked in conflict, like India and Pakistan or Armenia and Azerbaijan? Trump threatens tariffs until they stop. Eight European countries oppose his Greenland ambitions? Additional tariffs loom, even though they already have trade agreements with the US.
