Trump, tariffs and a changing world order

‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ - the iconic words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty have been an abiding promise, a symbol of the great American Dream. In Trump’s America, however, this ethos is being stripped, and unfortunately, what happens in the country does not stay in the country. At the time of writing this, I can only say, fasten your seatbelts!

It is hard to imagine that in the modern era unpredictability and instability are rippling down from the United States to be felt across nations and economies. But here we are under Trump 2.0, shaken and stirred. Twenty-four hours after his call for ‘Liberation Day,’ while the President played golf, there was a bloodbath on global markets. And it was not a one-off incident. The Sensex in India felt the shocks and saw investor wealth of over Rs20 trillion obliterated in seconds. Behind the big numbers is the wiping out of lifetime savings for global investors.