Episode 21: Tariff World – How Trump’s Trade War Broke The Global Economy

Episode 21: Tariff World – How Trump’s Trade War Broke The Global Economy

What’s in this episode
In the final instalment of our three-part series on Trump’s April 2025 tariffs, host Bella Goode steps back to explore the global fallout of America’s most reckless trade war in modern history. From dairy farmers in Quebec to chip manufacturers in Japan, we follow the ripple effects of a policy with no economic modeling and no safety net — just escalating damage. This episode unpacks how Trump’s trade assault is reshaping economies, straining alliances, and accelerating the collapse of a global system the U.S. once led.

Key points covered:

• A global tour of tariff consequences, with real-world impacts in Canada, Germany,Japan, and Vietnam
• How entire industries — from autos to electronics to agriculture — are being destabilized by U.S. trade policy
• The retaliatory measures taken by countries like Canada, Mexico, and China — and what they signal geopolitically
• The growing movement among U.S. allies to reduce dependence on American markets and leadership
• How broken supply chains, rising inflation, and shrinking trust are rewriting the rules of global trade
• The danger of U.S. isolationism — and what happens when America is no longer seen as a reliable partner
• Why this trade war may mark the beginning of a new global order — one where the U.S.is on the outside looking in
  
  Why it matters
  This isn’t just about trade — it’s about trust, leadership, and the long-term role of the United
  States in the global economy. Trump’s tariffs are accelerating a shift in global alliances,
  damaging U.S. industries, and pushing inflation higher for American consumers. At stake is not
  just economic efficiency, but America’s credibility on the world stage. When the U.S. abandons
  cooperation in favor of coercion, the rest of the world adapts — without us.
  
  Coming up next
  In Episode 22, we dive into national security — and how the Trump administration’s second term is exposing critical vulnerabilities. From cyber threats to global conflict zones, we’ll examine the systems under strain and what it means for American safety in a world increasingly
  on edge.

Transcript

Bella Goode  00:04

Hi everyone. I'm Bella Goode, your host for another episode of Surviving Trump. We've spent the last two episodes unpacking what Trump's April 2025 tariffs mean for Americans. From rising prices at the checkout line to job losses in manufacturing and the broader economic fallout that's already rattling the stock market, we've heard from economists, industry leaders and workers feeling the pinch. We've also traced the political motives behind the tariffs, how they function, not just as a trade policy, but as a loyalty test inside Trump's America first doctrine, but to really understand the consequences of these tariffs, we need to look beyond our borders, because the United States doesn't operate in a vacuum. 

Bella Goode  00:54

Our economy and our decisions are deeply connected to the rest of the world, and when the world's largest importer suddenly slams the brakes on trade. The effects don't stop at our shoreline. They spread and they spread fast. In this segment, we're stepping outside of the US to examine the global consequences of Trump's tariff war. We'll visit four countries, Canada, Germany, Japan and Vietnam, to see how their industries, their business owners and workers, are being hit. Then we'll explore how governments are responding, what global industries are at risk, and why all of this matters, not just for them, but for all of us, because the truth is, global trade doesn't just create efficiency and lower prices. It's the framework that's held the global economy together for decades. When it's disrupted at this scale, the damage isn't isolated. It's systemic. 

Bella Goode  01:56

Let's take a look. Before we dive into the ripple effects of Trump's tariffs around the world, we need to understand what global trade actually is and why it matters so much, not just for economies, but for ideas, innovation and the kind of world that we want to live in. At its core, global trade is about efficiency. Countries focus on making things that they're good at and trade for the things that they aren't. It's not about weakness, it's about comparative advantage. The US, for example, excels at producing high tech goods, like semiconductors. They're complex, capital intensive, and packed with intellectual property. Countries like Vietnam or Bangladesh, on the other hand, they specialize in low tech, labor intensive goods like apparel or footwear. It doesn't make sense for America to shift resources into making sneakers when it could be building the future of AI or aerospace instead. As Paul Krugman puts it, apparently, Trump envisions an America that produces sneakers but doesn't produce semiconductors. That's not a plan, that's nostalgia, and it doesn't hold up in a 21st century economy. 

Bella Goode  03:11

But trade is about more than just prices and profit margins. It's about resilience. If one country faces a natural disaster or political crisis others can pick up the slack. It's about collaboration, where innovation thrives through shared research, global supply chains and complementary expertise. When US chip makers rely on Dutch lithography machines and Japanese chemicals, it's not weakness, it's a system built to scale. And global trade is also about people and the world views that they carry. Great nations through history have been crossroad nations meeting points where cultures, technologies and ideas converge, from ancient Athens to Renaissance Florence, from Vienna to New York, the most innovative societies have always been the ones most open to the world. 

Bella Goode  04:08

As historian Peter Hall once wrote, "People meet people, talk people, listen to each other's music and each other's words. And so by accidents of geography, sparks may be struck and something new comes out of the encounter." That's what global trade fosters, not just material wealth, but intellectual and cultural exchange. It makes countries smarter, more dynamic and more connected. It's not just about buying cheaper products. It's living in a more open, more creative and a more stable world, which is why what's happening now is so alarming. Trump's new tariffs are not only wrecking supply chains, they're threatening the very foundation of the system. They risk turning America inward, isolating it from the very networks that helped it lead the world for decades. And they're pushing, they're already pushing our allies, to look elsewhere. 

Bella Goode  05:07

In the next sections, we'll show you exactly how this plays out across countries, industries and entire economies. But just know this global trade isn't just a policy, it's a principle, and when we break it, we don't just pay higher prices, we lose the connections that make us strong. We've spent most of episodes 19 and 20 talking about the spectrum of pain these tariffs are causing here at home, from the grocery store to the factory floor. But the truth is, the ripple effects don't stop at our borders. President Trump's April tariffs are now hitting more than 60 countries, and in many of them, the economic damage is just as severe. In some cases, even worse, these aren't just hiccups in trade flows. They're destabilizing entire sectors, putting small business owners on the brink and threatening the livelihoods of workers who already had limited economic options in communities 1000s of miles from Washington, decisions made in a single press conference are forcing layoffs, shuttering plants and wiping out hard earned gains and beyond the immediate fallout, there's something deeper at stake. These shock waves are unraveling the framework of global trade, a system built over decades on openness, efficiency and trust. If that system breaks, it's not going to bounce back in a year. It might not even bounce back in a generation. 

Bella Goode  06:43

So how far does it go? To get a sense of the scale, let's look at four countries, Canada, Germany, Japan and Vietnam, and follow the chain reaction from tariff to industry to business owner to worker. First, Canada, America's closest trading partner. Here, the tariffs aren't just economic, they're personal. Trump has imposed stiff penalties on Canadian dairy, lumber and aluminum, striking at the heart of regional trade that's long flowed seamlessly under NAFTA and its successor, the USMCA. 

Bella Goode  07:21

Let me take a second to explain that NAFTA, which stands for North American Free Trade Agreement, was a trade deal between the US, Canada and Mexico, signed in 1994 it removed most tariffs, tariffs on imports and trade barriers between the three countries to make it easier to buy and sell goods across their borders. The USMCA, which stands for the United States, Mexico, Canada, Agreement, is the updated version of NAFTA. It went into effect in 2020 under President Trump. It kept much of NAFTA, but added new rules on things like automobile manufacturing, labor rights and digital trade and environmental protections. 

Bella Goode  08:04

Anyway, going back to Canada, take one small dairy Co-Op outside of Sainte-Julie, Quebec. For years, it supplied butter and cheese to restaurants and grocery chains in upstate New York and Vermont, not because of some globalist conspiracy, but because they were nearby, competitively priced and high quality. The cross border relationship worked. US buyers got fresh dairy and the Co Op had a steady customer base just hours away. But with new tariffs tacked on to every shipment, these buyers, the United States, they've walked away. Orders have vanished, and the farm is now stuck with oversupply, plummeting prices and milk that they can't move. 

Bella Goode  08:50

And that's just the demand side. On the supply side, the farm's input costs are rising too, the machinery, parts that they use to maintain milking equipment, many of them imported from the US or Germany, have spiked in price. So is packaging, especially plastics and stainless steel. Feed prices are volatile. Transportation costs are climbing. So even as revenue drops, the cost of staying afloat is going up. They've had to lay off two long time drivers. They've dumped 1500 liters of milk, and they're worried that the next step might be selling off part of the herd. For this Co Op, like so many others, the tariff isn't just a line item, it's a direct hit to their ability to survive. In retaliation, Canada has slapped tariffs on American apples, pork and even ketchup, but that doesn't undo the damage for the farm, and it doesn't help the families already facing consequences. So that's Canada. 

Bella Goode  09:52

Let's turn to Germany. Europe's economic engine. Trump's tariffs are targeting European Auto Parts and luxury. Vehicles, two pillars of Germany's manufacturing base. This isn't just about high end BMWs on us roads. It's about a vast ecosystem of suppliers that feed into global auto production. Take a mid sized precision parts supplier in Bavaria, they manufacture specialized sensors used in electric powertrains, components that US automakers rely on to meet performance and emission standards. Their parts were shipped to assembly lines in Ohio and Kentucky, where American companies integrated them into electric vehicles. But now those shipments are frozen. The tariffs had added 25 to 30% to the price tag, making their components non competitive overnight. US companies are either delaying orders, seeking domestic substitutes or canceling contracts entirely. For the German firm, it's a financial cliff. Their production line has slowed to three days a week. Half of their workforce, machinists, logistics staff, engineers, they've been furloughed. 

Bella Goode  11:07

They're also facing upstream challenges. The high grade aluminum that they use, much of it's sourced globally, is now caught in price volatility caused by the same trade war. Energy costs are rising. Financing is tightening, and the longer uncertainty drags on, the more likely it is that US companies reconfigure supply chains permanently, cutting them out for good. And the irony the damage hits American workers too, those US auto plants in the Midwest that depended on these German components, they can't finish builds. They can't finish cars. The cars are sitting idle. Layoffs are looming. The tariff boomerangs in both directions. 

Bella Goode  11:51

In Japan, the crisis is unfolding across two Cornerstone industries, electronics and autos. Japan's export economy has long revolved around these sectors, sectors built on speed, precision and volume. Trump's tariffs hit them with the force of a sledgehammer. Consider a major electronics manufacturer headquartered in Osaka. They supply key sub components, things like control chips and specialty glass used in American consumer products, including tablets and electric vehicles. For years, these components were shipped seamlessly to factories like in California and Texas under just in time delivery models and now tariffs have inflated costs by nearly 40%, the US orders have been paused, and with demand evaporating, the company has had to shut down two assembly plants outside of Tokyo and laid off over 300 workers, many of them subcontracted through smaller firms that now face bankruptcy. 

Bella Goode  12:59

It's a domino effect, fewer orders mean less demand for raw materials, fewer jobs and logistics and uncertainty across the supply chain. One smaller supplier of molded plastics in Nagoya, who only had three contracts all tied to this. One company just closed its doors for dozens of employees, there is nowhere for them to go. The electronics industry is already saturated. These workers aren't just unemployed, they're adrift. So this isn't about competition, it's about systemic disruption, and the longer it lasts, the harder it will become to restore trust or to rebuild partnerships. 

Bella Goode  13:41

And then there's Vietnam, one of the fastest growing export economies in the world, now hit hardest by Trump's new tariffs. Vietnam has carved out a powerful niche in global trade, especially in labor intensive industries like apparel, furniture and consumer electronics, assembly. Much of that growth has been driven by us demand and demand that is now vanishing. Take a textile factory outside of Ho Chi Minh City. It produces denim and sportswear for two US retailers, brands that you recognize from every shopping mall in America in the first three weeks after the April tariff announcement, their exports to the US dropped by 70%. Retail buyers canceled or delayed shipments uncertain how price hikes would affect consumer demand. To cut cost, the factory eliminated its night shift, and then it laid off 90 workers. Now it's on the verge of closing its second facility, the one that employed mostly single mothers and rural migrants. One 24 year old garment worker told a local reporter that she'd been sending half of her paycheck home to support her parents and younger siblings. Now she's back on the job market, competing with 1000s in the same position. 

Bella Goode  15:10

And it's not just about exports. The factory relies on imported materials like synthetic fibers, dyes and thread. Much of it's sourced from China and South Korea, those supply chains are now strained or delayed due to retaliatory tariffs and logistical gridlock. Vietnam's government has scrambled to find new buyers in Europe and Southeast Asia, but that takes time, and in this economy, time is the one thing that these workers don't have. In each of these countries the story follows the same pattern, a US tariff cuts off access to a major marketbusinesses shrink, workers suffer, local economies falter, and soon enough, the damage comes full circle, hitting us consumers with higher prices, disrupting American manufactures and triggering the next wave of economic instability. This isn't globalization gone wrong. This is what happens when interdependence is severed recklessly and unilaterally with no plan for what comes next. 

Bella Goode  16:16

And it's only the first half of the story, because while businesses scramble and workers suffer governments are preparing their own response. Now let's turn to the global retaliation that's already reshaping trade alliances and redrawing the map of the world economy. Governments around the world aren't just filing complaints or issuing statements. They are retaliating and fast and in some cases, aggressively. What began as a unilateral move by the United States has now triggered a global chain reaction of counter measures, lawsuits and strategic realignments with America increasingly on the outside looking in. Again, let's start with Canada after taking a direct hit in dairy, lumber and aluminum, Ottawa didn't hesitate. Within 48 hours of Trump's announcement, Canada imposed targeted retaliatory tariffs on a wide range of American exports, including apples, pork, whiskey and ketchup. But this wasn't just tit for tat. It was politics. Many of those goods are produced in swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, a message aimed squarely at Trump's political base. 

Bella Goode  17:32

Canada's Prime Minister called the move regrettable but necessary warning that unilateral protectionism by the US threatens to unravel decades of cross border cooperation. Behind the scenes, Canada is accelerating trade negotiations with the European Union and Indo Pacific partners to reduce reliance on the US market. Mexico has followed suit in a rare show of bipartisan consensus, Mexico's government imposed tariffs on American corn, poultry and industrial machinery, items with deep roots in American farm country and the Rust Belt. Mexican officials also suspended cooperation on several trade facilitation programs, warning that Trump's actions violate the spirit, if not the letter of the USMCA, again, the United States, Mexico, Canada agreement. 

Bella Goode  18:26

What's unfolding is more than economic retaliation, it's a rebalancing of alliances. And across Europe, leaders are rethinking their Transatlantic Trade Priorities. Germany has floated a proposal for an emergency tariff shield, a coordinated EU response to US trade aggression, France has called for a broader strategic autonomy initiative that would make Europe less dependent on US imports and financing. European diplomats are openly using phrases like post American trade order in Asia, trade alignments are also accelerating and in some cases exploding into full blown confrontation. Japan has quietly resumed talks to deepen ties with Southeast Asian economies and is strengthening its role in the CPTPP, which is you can remember this, The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership. It's a mouthful. Well, anyway, it's a major regional trade pact that the US exited under Trump in 2017.

Bella Goode  19:39

Vietnam, reeling from the collapse of the US, demand is fast tracking export deals with India, Australia and the EU to replace its exposure to US instability. And in China, the stakes have jumped dramatically. Officials in Beijing are not only proposing new regional trade blocs to counter balance western volatility. They're now taking direct aim at the United States with a major retaliatory strike. In a dramatic escalation, China announced it will raise additional tariffs on US goods to 84% up from 34% matching the latest level imposed by the White House. It is a clear tit for tat move, signaling that Beijing is prepared to go blow for blow with Washington. 

Bella Goode  20:29

The economic shock waves are already being felt. Investors are now selling them with us, treasuries, the government bonds normally viewed as the safest asset in the world. That's because that's not business as usual. It's a red flag, because when investors dump treasuries, it means they're losing faith in the stability of the US economy itself. Some fear that Trump's tariff escalation could fuel inflation. Others are bracing for retaliation that goes beyond trade with China potentially cutting its US bond holdings as a pressure tactic, either way, the message is clear, even the so called safe bets don't feel safe anymore. The world's two largest economies are now locked in open trade warfare, and with each retaliatory move, the states get higher and the risks grow deeper, and the options for de escalation narrow. In other words, the world is adapting, not just with us. 

Bella Goode  21:30

And then there's the supply chain shake up. Global manufacturers are hedging their bets. Some are rerouting production through friendlier Trade Zones. Others are building parallel supply chains to serve non US markets. The message is clear. If America is going to play Whack a Mole with tariffs, companies will take their business elsewhere. And this is what de globalization looks like, not a clean break, but a slow drifting apart, one country at a time, one shipment, one contract, one alliance at a time. And outside of America's traditional alliances, other powers are sensing an opportunity. In Russia, state media is celebrating the chaos, framing Trump's tariffs as proof that US leadership is collapsing under its own contradictions. Russian officials have floated new trade coordination talks with China and Iran, not just as an economic play, but as a way to blunt us leverage and weaken dollar dominance in global markets.

Bella Goode  22:36

In the Middle East, countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are staying publicly neutral, but behind the scenes, they're strengthening trade ties with China and investing in regional infrastructure to bypass traditional Western shipping lanes. These aren't direct responses to the tariffs, but they are unmistakable signs that the world is beginning to plan for a future without a reliable US leadership. And then comes the formal backlash at the World Trade Organization, the WTO, the global body which oversees international trade rules and resolves disputes between nations, over a dozen countries, including close US allies, have filed coordinated complaints challenging Trump's tariffs as violation of international trade law. Legal experts predict that while rulings may take time, the reputational damage is immediate. The US is now being viewed not as a guarantor of the rules based system, but as a destabilizing force within it, because when trade breaks down, trust follows, and once trust is gone, it takes more than a new administration or press release to rebuild it. 

Bella Goode  23:52

In the next section, we'll follow the fallout into the industry's hit hardest from agriculture to tech to shipping, and show how the ground is shifting beneath the feet of workers, companies and the entire economy. If the first wave of Trump's tariffs hit individual countries, the second wave is crashing down on entire industries, industries that form the backbone of the global economy and in many cases, American life. From the food we eat to the devices we use, the consequences are piling up. Let's start with agriculture, often the first casualty in any trade war. But the pain isn't just local. American farmers are already reeling from retaliatory tariffs from Mexico, China and Canada, but the pain isn't just local, in South America, where agribusiness depends on us made machinery delays in parts and higher input costs are putting planting seasons at risk. 

Bella Goode  24:59

In Southeast Asia, exporters of shrimp, coffee and rice, all tightly linked to us, distributors are watching orders collapse. A California based almond cooperative says that its export business has fallen by 45% since the tariffs were announced. Why? Because shipping to Europe now includes retaliatory surcharges, and Asian buyers are negotiating down prices, citing volatility. For producers, this means tighter margins, delayed harvests and in some cases, wasted crops. In manufacturing, the disruptions are more structural and more dangerous. Modern manufacturing doesn't happen in one country. It happens across dozens. Semiconductors might start in Arizona, but then they're etched in the Netherlands, finished in Malaysia, tested in Taiwan, and assembled in Mexico. Break any link in that chain, and the whole thing grinds to a halt. 

Bella Goode  26:00

Take Howmet Aerospace, a major US supplier of aircraft components, it's now declared force majeure, a legal way of saying we literally can't fulfill our contracts because the supply chain is broken. They're not alone. A global supplier of ball bearings told Reuters that their order backlog has tripled as input costs spike and logistics bottlenecks stretch from Rotterdam to Long Beach, California in the tech sector, it's not just wounded. It's exposed. The Trump tariffs are falling hardest on hardware, phones, routers, graphic cards, solar panels, smart TVs, all things that rely on cross border manufacturing. Many US based brands like Dell and HP had quietly shifted assembly to Southeast Asia to avoid earlier China tariffs. Now with Vietnam and Malaysia on the target list. There's nowhere left to hide. One global electronics firm reportedly paid three times the usual rate to reroute parts through Singapore just to avoid a tariff bottle Nnck in US ports. 

Bella Goode  27:15

Even Apple, famously good at managing logistics, has seen delivery timelines slip as suppliers hedge bets and reassess us exposure and smaller firms, they're getting priced entirely. Then there's the global shipping industry, the invisible backbone of world trade. Container ports in Singapore, Rotterdam and Los Angeles are reporting massive slowdowns. Freight forwarders say customs backlogs are stretching into weeks, not days, and the reinstatement of de minimis thresholds, which limit the value of goods that can enter tariff free, is causing chaos at the borders. Couriers are seeing packages rejected, delayed or rerouted, and companies are struggling to explain to customers why a $60 item now costs $90 and takes twice as long to arrive. 

Bella Goode  28:10

Maersk, the Dutch shipping giant, has warned of significant uncertainty in global logistics. Translation, the world's biggest cargo operator doesn't know where this is going, and that should scare everyone. And finally, we come to retail, where all of these pressures converge. Walmart target and Costco have begun to issue quiet warnings to suppliers, adjust your pricing or expect fewer orders. Apparel brands are trimming SKUs and bracing for markdowns. One large US retailer reportedly scrapped plans for a summer fashion rollout because shipping delays made seasonal inventory planning impossible. And here's the reality, even where inflation isn't yet visible on the shelves. It is coming. It's baked into the pipeline in the form of higher manufacturing costs, rerouted shipping fees and smaller inventories. 

Bella Goode  29:12

Consumer prices will rise, not because companies want them to, but because the structure that was used to keep them low, Global trade, is being dismantled. And this is what decoupling looks like in real time, not a slow drift, but a jarring disassembly, sector by sector, link by link. In the next section, we'll step back again and look at what this all adds up to, rising global inflation, a dangerous drift towards isolation and a world where America's role is not just shrinking, it's being actively replaced. What we're seeing now isn't just a bad quarter or rough patch in the markets, it's the early stages of something bigger, the slow, grinding collapse of the global trade system as we've known it for decades. 

Bella Goode  30:02

Let's start with inflation, because it's already here. Consumer prices in the US are rising again after months of relative stability. Global shipping costs are spiking. Commodities like wheat, steel and lithium, all essential to manufacturing, food production and clean energy are becoming more expensive as supply chains fracture and tariffs stack up. Economists are warning of a new inflationary wave, driven not by demand, but by dysfunction, a self inflicted wound caused by deliberate trade disruption. A Bloomberg tracker shows global equity markets have lost more than ten trillion in value since Trump's April tariffs were announced. And here's the thing, once inflation becomes embedded in the system, it's hard to dislodge. It hits hardest at the bottom of the income scale on families already stretched thin by housing, health care and debt, and it doesn't take long before public anxiety turns into political instability.

Bella Goode  31:06

Inflation is just one piece of a bigger story. What we're really watching is a retreat, a turn inwards by the United States. For decades, America wasn't just a participant in global trade, it was its architect. The institutions, the agreements and the systems that governed international commerce were, for better or worse, built by US leadership. That leadership gave the US not just economic influence, but moral and strategic leverage in a world shaped by cooperation. Trump's tariffs reject that entire premise. They aren't just about trade deficits or job protection. They're about control, about punishing perceived enemies, rewarding loyalists, and using economic policy as a weapon, not just against farm competitors, but against allies in domestic industries who refuse to fall in line. 

Bella Goode  32:00

Which brings us to isolation, because when America treats trade like a loyalty test, the rest of the world starts to move on without us. They, in effect, are giving us the middle finger. You can already see it happening. New supply chains forming, new trade alliances emerging, and a growing chorus of nations rethinking their dependence on the US economy. It's not that they want to cut ties, it's just that they no longer trust us to be a stable, rational partner, and once that trust is broken, it's hard to get back. What we're witnessing is a geopolitical reordering, not with a bang, but with a series of quiet, calculated decisions. European companies sourcing parts from India instead of Indiana, Asian economies choosing regional trade packs over American made uncertainty, currency reserves shifting out of us, dollars and into more diversified baskets. 

Bella Goode  32:58

The decline isn't dramatic, it's incremental, but it is relentless. Even America's allies are hedging. Germany is talking openly about strategic autonomy. Canada is negotiating side deals with the EU. Japan is deepening its role in Asian trade pacts. These aren't protest moves. They are survival strategies, and every one of those moves leaves America more isolated, not just economically, but politically and diplomatically. We are no longer the indispensable nation. We are becoming the unpredictable one, the one that blows up deals, punishes partners and changes course on a whim. This is what happens when trade policy becomes performance art, when a president imposes 50% tariffs on Vietnamese electronics and Canadian dairy, but then turns around and posts about it like a reality show win. 

Bella Goode  33:55

It sends a message not just to markets, but to the world, that the United States is no longer serious about economic leadership or stability or shared prosperity, and that kind of signal is hard to walk back. So here we are a few months into Trump's tariff Blitz, and the global economy is on fire, and not the good kind of fire. Entire industries are reeling. Long standing alliances are under strain, and the countries that once counted the US as a stabilizing force are now treating us like the guy who shows up to the potluck, flips the table and says that he's brought freedom. What started as a PR stunt at a press conference complete with red hats, soaring rhetoric and zero actual economic modeling has become something else entirely, a full blown international crisis, not because other countries hate us, but because they no longer know what version of America that they're dealing with. 

Bella Goode  34:58

And while workers are losing jobs, farmers are dumping milk, and the global markets are down trillions. The former president is more concerned about whether his latest round at Mar a Lago qualifies him for another Trump International Club Championship, because when the world is on fire, it's important to know who really deserves that commemorative trophy, and in the in quotes, "you can't make this stuff up Category", the award goes to Trump, who told attendees at a National Republican Congressional committee's dinner regarding tariffs, "I don't know what the hell I'm doing. These countries are calling us up kissing my ass. They're dying to make a deal. I'll do anything, sir." 

Bella Goode  35:44

So that's the story of Trump's trade war today. Over the last three episodes, we've seen how we got here and what it all means. So before we close, let's zoom out one last time we've looked at what tariffs are, how they work, and what they're doing to real people, from farmers and factory workers to families to foreign allies now questioning if the US is even capable of leading anymore. We've seen markets crash, we've seen retaliation take root. We've seen alliances fracture, and we've watched the world adjust in real time, redirecting trade routes, rewriting policies and rebuilding the global economy without us. 

Bella Goode  36:26

We'll leave you with this final thought from Mike Allen. He is the co founder of Axios, and I quote "President Trump is betting everything his presidency, his political legacy, and the country's economic future on what Axios has rightly called the biggest instant unilateral by choice, not necessity, economic mandate in US history. For Trump to be right and for Trump to win, you have to believe that his instincts are better than five decades of bipartisan consensus that tariffs won't raise prices, that allies won't retaliate, that the global economy will bend to his will. If he is wrong, the consequences won't just show up in headlines. They will hit every paycheck and grocery bill and small town business in the country. This is the first policy Trump has ever backed that touches every American, and we'll all find out soon whether the gamble paid off or whether the bill is coming due." 

Bella Goode  37:35

So that ends our three part series on tariffs. Join me next week for Episode 22 my coverage will be of national security, right up there on the things to be worried about. Before I sign off, here's an important message, Surviving Trump is 100% listener supported, and it's just me behind this mic, researching, writing and recording. I do pay a professional to edit and produce every episode. If you value the work, consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep this show going strong. Every contribution helps power the reporting, interviews and analysis that makes this podcast possible. The full transcript and links are online, and you can leave your comments. This isn't passive listening is political survival. You can also lead a review about this episode. It can help shape where this podcast goes next. 

Bella Goode  38:29

Last, but not least, some humor from Borrowitz to leave you with. Dateline New York, The Borrowitz Report: Offering a remedy to last week's devastating crash on global stock markets, Robert F Kennedy Jr said last week that the plummeting trend could be reversed if investors would just drink high doses of cod liver oil. "Stocks are crashing because investors are in a bad mood, and the reason that they're in a bad mood is because they're not getting enough omega three fatty acids." He said, "This is what caused the Great Depression!" And bolstering the credibility of his suggestion, he added, "Hey, Dr Oz is with me on this." Kennedy's prescription, however, was met with skepticism from financial experts, who noted that the tariffs on cod liver oil had made the liquid virtually unaffordable. Until next time, stay engaged, stay informed, and most importantly, stay in that fight. This is Bella Goode, signing off.