Trump Tariffs Aim to Bring Down Curtain on Era of Globalization

President Trump’s biggest tariff blitz yet sends a clear message to U.S. and foreign companies alike: The era of globalization is over. Trump’s “Liberation Day” plan to impose sweeping new duties on trillions of dollars in imports shows that the White House wants goods sold to American consumers to be built in American factories—bringing down the curtain on U.S. support for the turbocharged globalization that powered the world economy for decades.

The new tariffs include a baseline duty of 10% on foreign imports and larger so-called reciprocal tariffs. China faces an additional 34% tariff on top of levies totaling 20% applied since February. When combined with levies from previous administrations, economists estimate that China now faces total tariffs of 65% to 70%. Vietnam faces a new 46% tariff and the European Union a new 20% tariff. “Jobs and factories will come roaring back into our country, and you see it happening already,” Trump said in a Rose Garden ceremony Wednesday. To any company or country that complains, he said: “If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America.”

Trump’s Made-in-America ambitions mean that a gusher of investment that in recent years showered low-cost manufacturing destinations such as Vietnam, as well as U.S. allies such as South Korea and Japan, is set to dry up. Firms are reconsidering their options for where best to spend their investment dollars. “The U.S. has been at the center of globalization,” said Andre Sapir, a former EU official who is now economics professor at the Free University of Brussels. “Now the U.S., the center, wants to pull away.” (Ed note: Will Trump's tariffs end Globalism? I doubt it. Remember in Prophecy, Satan is trying to develop a Global platform for his boy Antichrist to step out upon)  (Read More)