Countries across the world have been affected by the policies and policy shifts of the White House since Donald Trump took over as President of the US on January 20. Like him or dislike him, Donald Trump won the 2024 election and is still at the start of his second and final term as the US President. Being an individual obsessed with figures, his loyal lieutenants have estimated the earnings to the US Treasury from the many tariffs he has imposed as $300 billion, which is not a very substantial sum in an economy where economists speak not of billions but of trillions of US dollars. In reality, the cost to the US taxpayer of the effect of such a welter of tariffs on US and allied security would be much more. Tariffs on China are understandable in view of the US need to ensure the failure of the intensified effort of the CCP under General Secretary Xi Jinping to displace Washington, with Beijing as the geopolitical centre of gravity in the world.
In such an effort, South Korea and Japan would be the closest allies of the US in the region surrounding Taiwan. They have nevertheless been threatened with high tariffs, and even more inexplicably, with withdrawal of the US from the security guarantees that have been given to Seoul and Tokyo by Washington. Such a situation must bring glee to Xi and his cohorts, who are, as a consequence, responding aggressively to the tariff threats of Trump on China.
Meanwhile, India has so far been spared as a consequence of careful handling led by the PMO of the White House. The multitude of witting or unwary algo warriors who in effect toe the CCP line is making an intense effort to reverse such a trend, given that India represents by far the biggest challenge to Chinese supremacy over the Indo-Pacific. Going by information received from well-informed sources in Washington, this time around, Trump has entered into a phase where much of the input on which Presidential decisions get made comes from his family and close friends. It would appear that a few of the latter are heeding whisperers who favour a line benefitting the CCP under Xi. Such a situation may go some way into explaining how security treaty allies of the US such as South Korea and Japan are being treated by the White House.
The theory that the tariff policies and policy reversals of President Trump are driven by the effort of some in the power circle of friends around President Trump to squeeze profits from trades made by them on Wall Street. Such a mercenary line is unlikely to be true, given that the Trump family would be wary of skirting ethical or legal challenges, given the experience in the first term of President Trump, when he was persecuted through prosecutions by the Biden White House. The Biden administration wanted to get Trump out of the field of possible Republican contenders, but failed, as Trump was politically revived by such an effort and defeated President Biden in the 2024 Presidential poll. The persecution of the former President was too much for US voters, who elected Trump as their choice of President. The pardon given by Biden to himself and his son has prevented zealous Trump loyalists in the present administration from following the same route. Such an abstention has been helpful to Trump, in that any prosecution of the former President would recoil on the present President in the way the Biden persecution of Trump did.
Best that former President Biden be left out of any effort at prosecution, for any such effort would have led to several MAGA loyalists turning against Trump. As it is he is facing headwinds, including the implication that he has colluded in keeping the Epstein files secret. Not surprisingly, the child sex racketeer died in prison soon after being jailed. Both Democrats and Republicans have colluded to keep the Epstein files secret, and small wonder. Both Democratic as well as Republican US Presidents have taken advantage of the minors who Epstein was offering to them. Rather than the truth being outed, what is likelier is that the files will mysteriously vanish. Elon Musk is working overtime to keep the issue of the continuing silence of the US Government about the files being revealed.
However, no matter what the hubbub generated by him is, it is unlikely that the files will be outed anytime soon, if ever. As for the Trump tariffs, India is maintaining a polite silence about them, unlike President Lula of Brazil, who incurred the ire of the US President by criticizing the tariffs and promptly saw Brazil hit with huge tariffs. India is pursuing the best policy, which is to ride the tariff storm and await better time.
