IBRAHIM AZUAJE

The Day Tariffs Stopped Being Policy And Became Power.
I have been watching Trump do the tariff moves since years, however, the recent move seems different to me. The tariffs did not come out of the blue, they have always been there but the manner in which they have been forced has changed. The policy is reincarnated in a reinforced form a few days later and it is an indication of will and not just economic value.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided only a few days ago that Trump was overstepping his powers by invoking emergency powers to issue broad-based tariffs. That ought to have slowed the step but he turned and with one swing proposed international tariff at 10 percent and then 15 percent of nearly all imported goods. This was not a response to me, but a message.

This Did not begin at this point – it has been building.

To realize the current state of affairs, one has to look back. The Trump tariff philosophy has never been that complicated: when the U.S. imports more than it exports, then something is wrong, and the solution is tariffs. He introduced a program of so-called reciprocal tariffs in 2025, levying taxes on imports in general, typically beginning with 10 percent and steeply increasing on some nations. He attacked China, Canada, Mexico and even European friends. At some stage, the tariffs on the Chinese products were much higher than the usual trade levels, and others were 25 percent and above under political influence.

This was not just trade policy, it was leverage. With time, such leverage grew beyond the economic arena to include immigration, security, energy agreements, and geopolitical placements. That is when the end of tariffs was reached when the tariffs ceased to be the issue of trade deficits and began to be the issue of control.

What Just Happened
And Why It is so Unusual?

Here’s where the stakes climb. When Trump had his earlier tariffs blocked by the court, he failed to retreat. He resorted to a seldom invoked 1974 statute that allows the executive to impose up to 15 percent tariffs 150 days without congressional approval and he went to the limit. It is important that he managed to do this so fast. It demonstrates that tariffs do not play second fiddle in his plan; they are the core of his plan.

The True behindness of All this.
The majority believe that this is concerning the safeguarding of American jobs. That’s only part of the story. One of the limited tools, which give apparent power in the world economy, is tariffs. Interest rates, policies, and negotiations are time consuming, tariffs are real time: they impose taxes on imports, prices increase and decrease overnight, supply chains reorganize and markets respond. That’s raw power. Trump knows this better than the majority of politicians that is why he doubled down following a court defeat.
The Hidden Austin that no one wants to discuss.
Tariffs are discussed as brash, nationalistic actions, however in the real world they are similar to tax -mostly imposed to the local consumers. Economists and business leaders say that tariffs increase costs and decelerate growth. This we have experienced in earlier trade wars: businesses take in the losts, and transfer them on; consumers pay higher; collaborations become haphazard; revenge is achieved. The pattern is clear. I can feel that as I witness tariffs going up once more, this time around, I feel more power as well as layers of pressure.
The International Response
The Silent But Deadly
The world is also responding cautiously and not panicking. Unpredictability is denounced by Europe. China remains restrained yet pay attention. The other countries are trying to safeguard their deals. They all understand that fluctuating tariffs are destabilizing world trade, and drag down growth across the globe. It is no longer an American tale.
What This Implicates in the Future.
In my opinion, it is not just a tariff increase. It is an indication of a change in the way economic power is being exercised. We are transitioning to a system that can change quickly, aggressively and unpredictably compared to a slow and negotiated system. That provides opportunity but it poses risk as well. Uncertainty is as much feared as bad news in the markets and this is increasing.
I do not consider it as good or bad. It is a wake-up call: the global trade is reaching an even more aggressive stage, economic weapons are being turned into weapons, and stability will never be guaranteed any more. Trump does not just have tariffs on imports; he has control. It does not really depend on whether tariffs will work, but what type of system we are entering into should this become the new normal.
#TrumpNewTariffs