Ian Bremmer

NEW YORK – Donald Trump’s return to the White House has ushered in a new era of American trade policy, one that represents a fundamental break from the past – including from his first term. Trump is significantly less deterred by consequences than last time. The “tariff wall” that he wants to build around the United States is not just a more aggressive version of his transactional first-term policies. Rather, it represents an effort to reshape the global economic order and America’s place in it.

The wall’s first bricks were laid on March 4, when Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and doubled the 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, pushing the cumulative rate on Chinese imports above 30%. Canada and Mexico immediately announced retaliatory measures targeting politically sensitive US industries and congressional districts. After two days of furious lobbying and market turmoil (for which Trump blamed “globalists”), the U.S. granted a one-month reprieve for cars from Mexico and Canada and products compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

But these temporary exemptions should not be taken as a sign that Trump is backing away from imposing tariffs on America’s closest trading partners. Trump has vowed to levy 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports by March 12, which will hit Canada especially hard. A tariff on global auto imports is supposed to follow on April 2, harming not only in Japan, South Korea, and Germany, but also Mexico and Canada, where U.S. carmakers have built complex cross-border supply chains.

The administration also plans to unveil worldwide “reciprocal”........

© The Korea Times