Why Trump is Attacking Trade Partners: The Times Analysis.

Trump Introduces Punitive Tariffs Against Trade Partners

President Trump's decision to impose punitive tariffs on the closest trade partners of the United States has caused anxiety in financial markets and alarmed the country's allies. The tariff rates are being restored to levels that existed in the 1940s.

According to various explanations, the introduction of import taxes is intended to increase revenue and reduce the U.S. trade deficit. The President believes that tariffs are a better way to harness America's economic potential compared to sanctions.

“What we do with sanctions is force everyone to retreat from us. That’s why I don’t like sanctions,” said Trump during his campaign.

According to economic editor at The Times Mehrin Khan, the negative attitude towards sanctions stems from the belief that the widespread use of financial pressure, which prevents individuals and organizations on the blacklist from conducting financial transactions using the universal currency - the dollar, will harm the dominant role of the American currency in global finance.

Trump sees tariffs as a way to achieve the same level of economic pressure on opponents and strengthen the global role of the dollar, as demonstrated this week.

The President also threatened to impose a 100% tariff on countries that joined an expanded BRICS group due to their initial attempts to create a competing reserve currency.

The phrase 'tariffs are more important than sanctions' has become popular due to the generally ineffective exclusion of Russia from the global financial system since March 2022.

According to this view, the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool against America's geopolitical rivals was undermined by news that the Chinese company DeepSeek has developed a much cheaper and more efficient generative AI model that can compete with dominant American companies like OpenAI and Google.