(((Tendar)))
@Tendar
Trump's tariff and trade wars are moving the US into the greatest economic and political blunder since the US depression of the 1930s. China is fighting back and obviously was prepared for this attack. The US Bond market is apparently the weak spot and with the exorbitantly huge debts the US possess, there is virtually no space for the US to move in this area. Things are getting worse since it is not only China dumping US bonds, but Western nations such as Canada, members of the EU and even Japan.
Trump absolutely underestimated that Canada, Europe and Japan won't have it and showed that they are more than willing to use the sledgehammer on the US bond market in order to defend their interests. Trump's ill-conceived tariff war, which targeted virtually every nation at once, and was flanked by his boastful behaviour towards US allies, gave them all the incentives to remove the gloves. At one point, not even friendly nations are going to accept this kind of behaviour, and they fought back, not necessarily by raising tariffs, which only hurt the own population, but by targeting the US bond markets. And it worked. This is why Trump surrendered on tariffs against most of the Western world.
At least Trump is now trying to focus on China, but this would only work, when it is aligned with all Western allies, especially with Europe. Trump, however, has shown his disdain for Europe, and alliances altogether. There is not much trust left and the price to fix these cracks will be vaste.
China on the other hand, has fostered deep economic ties to many countries around the world. President Xi is currently on a trip in Asia and he will have it easier to explain, why it would be better to align with China, rather than with the US whose unpredictability goes as far as that its tariffs make no difference between friend and foe. This alone shows that Trump has not a good plan. Everything relied on shock and awe, and that everyone will cave in fast. The moment this didn't materialize and was even faced with strong countermeasures, his game got exposed. Trump blinked and the USA lost.
Trump is leading the US into the greatest economic and political defeat in US' history. He unified most countries against him and not even the biggest economy on Earth can sustain a blunder of this magnitude. Trump swapped Canada and Europe for shady regimes in Russia and El Salvador, while strengthening China in the process. If somebody would want to weaken the US from the inside, then this would be the most efficient way. Most of his cabinet and all of his advisors are incompetent yes-sayers. Good leaders allow dissenting voice in their inner circle in order to challenge and eventually identify flawed plans. Putin made the same mistake when he launched his full-scale invasion in 2022.
In less than 3 months, Trump managed to weaken the US for no good reason and bring the healthy US economy down to levels unseen compared to all major economies across the globe. The US economy itself is on a verge to enter a recession, potentially even a depression. The US Dollar is buckling like a third-world currency, something the BRICS countries have been trying to achieve since the conception of this club, but never could do so, until Trump took office.
Together with his blunder in Ukraine, which only emboldened Russia and escalated the war, Trump is currently steering the US into more political irrelevance. Making deals with the US have become a gamble not many are willing to accept. This is going to haunt Washington when dealing with Iran. The mullah regime will have even less reason to surrender its stockpiles in weapons-grade fissile material when seeing what's happening with Ukraine after giving up its nuclear weapons in 1994. Trump has only made sure that the only real insurance policy for independence is a nuclear warhead. It is not hard to predict what this means for nuclear proliferation in the coming decades.
The only way to prevent this disaster from further unfolding is a major course correction, where the US sits together with its allies and hammer a coherent plan which is based on common values and mutual interest.