U.S. President-elect Donald Trump loves tariffs.
He has called it “the most beautiful word in the dictionary” and has pledged that they will be a core component of his administration’s economic strategy, the hammer with which his trade policy will be forged. If he follows through with that promise, Trump could upend the global economy, tearing down basic principles that have guided international economic engagement for decades as well as repositioning and potentially isolating the United States within that order.
That love affair might prove brief, however and that commitment may not be firm. The consequences of widespread tariffs could be so painful that Trump is obliged to retreat to undo the damage, even though he will declare victory of course.
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