Tariffs clash, winds howl
Empires bleed, markets tremble
Reckoning unfolds.

The cherry blossoms of Washington are long gone, but the air in April 2025 carries a different kind of fragility – a whiff of economic gunpowder. Donald Trump, barely three months into his second term, has unsheathed his Liberation Tariffs, a blade he wields with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The Economist/YouGov poll from April 5-8 paints a grim picture: 51% of Americans disapprove of his job performance, a net approval of -8, down 14 points since January. His handling of the economy fares worse, with a net approval of -10, and on inflation, a damning -19. The American people, it seems, are sharpening their own katanas.

Trump’s tariffs (145% on Chinese goods, 25% on Canada and Mexico, and a 90-day pause on others at 10%) are less a strategy than a tantrum. The Chinese, predictably, have retaliated, striking back with tariffs on US imports raised to 125%. Xi Jinping, in a meeting with Spain’s Pedro Sánchez as part of a broader diplomatic offensive, called for the EU to join China against Trump’s ‘bullying,’ warning that ‘there are no winners in a tariff war’, a truth rooted not in diplomacy, but in Beijing’s higher threshold for pain. A century of historical traumas. From the 100 Years of Humiliation to the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution has forged a chi ku resilience the US consumer, hooked on cheap goods, cannot match. The Guardian reports that China’s commerce ministry sees no market for US goods at current tariff levels, signaling a readiness to ‘fight to the end.’ This isn’t a negotiation; it’s a siege, with Beijing’s fortress unyielding to Trump’s tantrum-fueled charge.

The........

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