His self-proclaimed foreign policy prowess is being tested in both West Asia and Europe as the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts are nowhere close to ending. His threats to annex Canada have just resuscitated the political fortunes of the Liberal Party. Far-Right parties in Europe are also beginning to feel the heat of being seen as his fellow travellers as Trump seeks to increase the burden of military expenditure in Europe and also take away a part of the US export market from them. China, on the other hand, is trying to portray itself as a champion of multilateralism and rules-based order and is succeeding in part because of Trump.

Trump’s biggest challenge is in the realm of the economy. His “Liberation Day” reciprocal tariff announcements have managed to shock the Americans more than the rest of the world. Financial markets, including those for US treasuries, started convulsing after the announcements, forcing a pause on the tariffs. The true impact of the tariffs, especially vis-à-vis China, is yet to be felt in the American economy, as there was significant frontloading of orders to pre-empt the tariffs. It is this technical headwind that has led to a contraction in the US economy in the first quarter.

What will Trump’s economic policies lead to? Will they unleash significant economic pain domestically and force a rollback? Will they nudge other countries, rich and poor, to recalibrate their economic relationship away from the US,  perhaps even the US dollar? Will this lead to a significant weakening of the clout of the US across the world, potentially reversing the nature of global capital flows? Will all these economic factors widen the chasm between Trump’s working-class MAGA (Make America Great Again) base and his Wall Street backers?

A hundred days is too short a time to answer these questions. However, the fact that these questions are being asked shows that Trump 2.0 has moved more than one tectonic plate in geopolitics and economics.