Tariff War: How the U.S. Is Waging Economic Battles Across the Globe

The United States has reignited a full-scale geopolitical and economic war—not through weapons, but through tariffs. Under the leadership of President Donald Trump in his second term, Washington has launched sweeping trade penalties on numerous countries in what many call a global tariff war aimed at reasserting American dominance and deterring rising powers. The campaign began on March 24, when Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14245, imposing a 25% tariff on goods imported from any country—including major economies like India, China, and Brazil—that purchases Venezuelan oil directly or via third parties. This tariff would apply even if a country ceased purchases, remaining in effect for a year regardless of future actions. And the only way to stop it is not to buy it; then the tariff will be applicable for a whole year. Soon, he declared a tariff on all imports with a baseline of 10% and rising as high as 41% depending upon the geopolitical relationship, country stance, trade among nations, and many more factors.

After which countries started to settle according to the new tariff, Donald threw another bomb at India's economy by increasing the tariff to 25% on imported goods, which Narendra Modi didn't even flinch to reduce, as Donald may have a superior and alternate motive to enter India's reserved and protected agriculture and dairy industry.

In addition to that, Vietnam, Mexico, India, and Malaysia are competing to become the next manufacturing hub. Still, there is now a significant hindrance for India: the USA tariff increment of 25% reached 50%, the highest among those coexisting with Brazil. This tariff has been applied, and a good trade relationship between Russia and India has been established. Indeed, to stop it, these were ordered on August 6, with a week’s deadline. Now, along with this, the USA has stated that India is helping indirectly to support its war against Russia and asked it to stop; otherwise, sanctions will be applied, along with directly supplying weapons to Ukraine to help them. To stand against the tariff, different countries are coming together and one of the major players is BRICS, which includes India, China, Russia, and South Africa.

Source: presidency.ucsb.edu, reuters.com, theguardian.com