By Roman ULLAH
On the 2nd of April 2025, President Trump slammed the world’s economy by establishing a minimum baseline of 10% tariffs on imports from foreign countries. A quite remarkable display as a negative outcome on such policy would be the 1.3% fall on the dollar index, thus weakening the purchasing power of Americans. However, these measures announced on what he called « Liberation Day » haven’t been left unheard and unspoken of.
While several countries like Russia, Belarus or even Cuba have not been bothered as they haven’t been subjected to these so-called reciprocal tariffs (though they have been facing tough sanctions for quite some time now), key partners providing for important goods, services but also broader cooperation (especially in the military field) such as Brazil, Türkiye, or The United Kingdom, have been subjected to the least amount of tariffs which was set at a baseline of 10%. As pert the chart published by President Trump, it appears that the American leadership is committed to toughening the relations with Asian countries as they suffer the most from the new norms : 34% for China, 46% for Vietnam, 32% for Taiwan, 37% for Bangladesh, 29% for Pakistan, 24% for Japan and 25% for South Korea. This move comes expected as it has been announced several weeks ago and left speechless many foreign leaders, who may actually be comprehensive and will open a new dialogue with the United States, hoping for a reset or at least an ajustement of past-signed agreements : it is a risky bet for President Trump. While some countries may be panicking and seeking for negotiations (Vietnam being the first of the mentioned countries according to the White House report), others may seem to look for deterrent methods such as reciprocation : China has already announced a 34% tariffs on all American goods which led to a wave of criticism towards the American president’s policy coming from both the Democrats, and the Republicans (political party which he represents).
Panic is widespread and many political personalities call it a « national crisis » (quoting the Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba). The European Union leadership is in shambles as they had been dealing with previous 25% tariffs on the automotive sector, they are now facing an overall 20% tariffs on all goods. They cannot seem to reach a rhetorical consensus : while French president Macron calls it a « brutal and unfounded decision », the European head of the Commission Von der Leyen has maintained a cautious stance as she has avoided escalation and has called for negotiations through the European commissioner for trade, Maros Sefcovic, which is in talks with its american counterpart.
As the numbers have shown, we can only assume that such harsh and agressive economical policy, by President Trump, is a painful blow to the European Union and all sectors of it’s economy : Paris stock exchange has fallen by 3.83% by the end of the announcement day, mainly due to it’s banking and industrial sectors suffering from the new policies : uncertain is spreading across Europe and many companies have denounced such coercive measures. Another interesting data which shall not be overlooked : Brent crude oil barrel, which is the worldwide reference for oil trade, deals with a 2.97% drop to 68.06 dollars, it’s lowest since 2021. Major petrol producers and OPEC+ members (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) have pledged for an increase of production, thus creating uncertainty for importing countries : as close to no country in Europe is a major producer of oil, the Union might face an increase of energy price, thus extending a de facto energy crises that has been raging for years.
The European collective reactions to such an economic turmoil are double-sided and have been every as such since President Trump rejected to West’s policy on the Ukrainian issue : ongoing talks aiming at taking retaliatory measures against GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) are expected to be overruled if the European leadership manages to reach an agreement with the American leadership. However, given the unpredictable attitude of the American President, it is hard to tell whether he would be willing to proceed accordingly.
It is safe to say that the upcoming weeks will be filled with political ups and downs. As the Russian President Vladimir Putin once said : « if the fight is inevitable, better then to strike first ». President Trump preemptively acted accordingly, foreign leaders will then have to react one way or another : whether it is from mutual coercion, or by mutual understanding and cooperation.
The writer is a Lawyer based in France, Bangladeshi-Spanish background. He can be reached at Email : ullahroman@hotmail.fr.
