MAGA won’t gain from weaponising tariffs

ByHT Editorial

Jan 27, 2025 08:21 PM IST

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If the Trump administration doesn’t balance things, MAGA could very well end up as a project targeting smaller allies, rather than real competitors.

Restoring American supremacy is the declared agenda of the second Trump presidency. How exactly this will be done and what exactly it will take is not very clear. What is clear, though, is that the US’s dealings will go from being merely less cordial to more hostile and towards more flip-flops from being stable in the days to come. The latest drama between the US and Colombia is another example. The former threatened 25% tariffs on one of its closest junior allies in Latin America after it refused to allow US military planes carrying deportees to land. The “dispute” has since been resolved, with Colombia accepting the US’s demands. The drama is in keeping with Trump’s philosophy of using tariffs as the silver bullet in his dealings with other countries. While prevailing over a relatively weaker military and economic power like Colombia will placate Trump and his fellow travellers in the short run, these skirmishes are not going to do much to achieve his long-term goals of American economic rejuvenation. Here is why.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: A Pro-Trump supporter holding a MAGA hat stands outside of the United States Capitol before the inauguration of the 47th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Jim Vondruska / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP) (Getty Images via AFP)

One, acts such as these will only make US policy more uncertain in the eyes of other countries. This is inimical to the goal of striking regional trade agreements which Trump is believed to be eying. Two, the US’s major economic competitors are countries such as China which are not as economically vulnerable as, say, Colombia. There the US will have to rely more on economic prowess than a blanket resort to tariffs which could trigger serious inflationary or supply chain disruptions back home. Even Trump has been making sounds about doing deals with China rather than just deploying the stick.

If the Trump administration doesn’t balance things, MAGA could very well end up as a project targeting smaller, and often subservient allies, rather than real competitors.

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