Donald Trump announced on Friday another decision that shakes the already overstretched structure of the global economy. Starting November 1, Chinese imports are to be hit with a 100 percent tariff - a move that can hardly be described as trade policy anymore but as an act of economic frenzy. The step is justified by Chinese export restrictions on rare earths, those raw materials indispensable for computer chips, batteries, and aircraft engines. But in truth, Trump’s concern is not metals, it is power. He is threatening an economy that has long understood America’s dependencies - and in doing so, he is risking the stability of his own.
The president wrote on Truth Social that the date could change “depending on further actions taken by China.” It sounds harmless, but it means that the global economy once again depends on the mood of a man who treats politics like poker. Already in the spring, similar tariff threats triggered panic in the markets, fueled inflation, and reignited fears of a new recession. Now, with the U.S. economy already under pressure, this announcement feels like self-sabotage - calculated chaos in the name of national strength.
And once again, the world stays silent. No outcry from Brussels, no objection from Berlin. Beijing remains calm, as expected. Everyone watches as a president plays with the global order like a toy that has long since bored him. Diplomacy is silent, reason hides, and the markets tremble before the next post.
One wonders where the politicians have gone who still knew what responsibility meant. Once, world leaders met to solve conflicts - today a single sentence on a social network is enough to reignite them. Perhaps that is the real truth of our time: politicians are no longer people for whom one instinctively feels respect. Most have become administrators of their own power - people who cling to their positions, target the weakest to appear strong, and believe themselves above everything. The word revolution is not an American invention. It is a reminder that no system is untouchable - and that those who feel too safe are often surprised in precisely the country they thought immovable.
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