America’s Price – How Trump’s Trade War Hits Corporations, Universities, and the Press

It’s an unassuming tweet from the Wall Street Journal that condenses the force of American economic policy into a single sentence: “General Motors' profit shrank 35% last quarter after taking a $1.1 billion tariff hit.” A billion-dollar loss - caused by tariffs imposed by a president who sees himself as a dealmaker but is holding his own economy hostage. The vehicles in the accompanying photo look like they’re on a battlefield: white, silver, gray - paralyzed hope on four wheels. What’s emerging here is not an isolated corporate balance sheet. It’s a fever thermometer for the condition of a nation at war with itself.

While General Motors is backed into a corner, Donald Trump announces a new agreement with Japan: 15 percent tariffs on imports, “negotiated down” from an original 25 percent. Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba tries to frame the outcome as a bilateral success - not least to save his political skin after a crushing election defeat. But even in Tokyo, the facade is wearing thin. “I have to review the agreement first,” Ishiba deflects, while Washington is already putting a dollar amount on the outcome: 550 billion are to flow from Japan into the United States - on Trump’s “direct order,” as he writes on Truth Social. And Europe? There, the next ultimatum is already in the works. A letter from the White House threatens the 27 EU member states with 30 percent punitive tariffs - starting August 1. At a dinner with Republicans, Trump announces: “We have Europe here this week. Tomorrow or the day after.” The talks begin under the looming threat of economic annihilation.

But it’s not just tariffs that shape Trump’s presidency in these final days of July. It’s the wholesale transformation of a country whose institutions are increasingly bending toward an authoritarian project. In New Jersey, an appellate court overturns the statewide ban on private deportation centers - in favor of the Trump-aligned operator CoreCivic. The reasoning: states may not “interfere with federal functions,” even when human rights are at stake. In Colorado, meanwhile, Attorney General Phil Weiser sues a deputy sheriff for passing a student’s information to ICE via Signal chat - in direct violation of state law. The Trump administration has already sued Colorado over these very sanctuary laws. At the same time, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, goes on the offensive. In a report on the 2016 Russia affair, she challenges established findings - much to the delight of the president, who lavishly praises her in the East Room of the White House: “Tulsi, great work. And I know there’s more coming.” Gabbard had previously publicly questioned whether Iran was building nuclear weapons at all - Trump had rebuked her for that. Now she’s back in his good graces. And more than that: “Hotter than everybody,” he calls her - a superlative that hovers somewhere between chauvinism and a loyalty badge.

Meanwhile, the culture war is escalating in academic America. Columbia University confirms: nearly 80 students have been suspended or expelled - due to pro-Palestine protests in May. Pressure is coming from the top. 400 million dollars in federal funds have been frozen because Columbia allegedly failed to act decisively against “antisemitic tendencies” - according to the administration. Students face expulsion unless they submit written apologies. Some are refusing. “We will not be deterred,” they write. “We continue to fight for the liberation of Palestine.” And finally, the repression hits satire as well. Stephen Colbert, longtime host of the Late Show, returns with a bitter punchline: “Cancel culture has gone way too far.” CBS has canceled his show - allegedly for financial reasons. Colbert suspects otherwise: shortly before the decision, he had criticized Trump’s $16 million settlement with CBS over a 60 Minutes interview. Now he responds on stage: “They killed the show. But they let me live.” And adds dryly: “Now I can finally say what I really think about Trump. I don’t like him. He has no idea how to be president.”

What remains is a country in transition. Corporations are losing billions due to protectionist excesses, courts are bending laws in favor of the executive, universities and satirists are caught in the crosshairs - and all that’s left for Trump is the applause of his loyalists in the East Wing. But the impact zones are getting closer. And not just at General Motors.

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