Donald J. Trump is back as the president of the United States of America for the second time. With a convincing victory this time at the polls, he is more emboldened to execute his pitiless agenda than ever before. Expectedly, there is a palpable tension around the world. Though they voted for him, the Americans themselves have remained apprehensive. Countries in the East and the West are gripped in fervent phobia. But everyone should chill: America is not an island, after all.
Since sworn into office two weeks ago, Donald Trump has quickly swung into action by implementing his gratuitous promise of radical nationalism. He has been deporting helpless people, exerting imaginary imperial powers, slamming tariffs on American imports, and threatening world peace with increasing stridency.
Make no mistake about this: The United States has every right to formulate and implement policies as a sovereign nation. These very new policies may also mean well for America long run, as more goods could be made locally, leading to low unemployment and increased exports, but the way and manner Trump is going about it is a naked assault on human dignity, where the subject is non-American.
It is time the world unites to shame Mr. Trump. It behooves a paradigm shift. Instead of maintaining a long-standing subservient profile, where the United States is revered as the supreme authority, the nations across the globe should approach the American 47th president from a position of strength. Real strength! Consequential strength!!
Let us beam light on one of his grand follies—the attempt to impose tariffs on imports into the United States of America.
The man has already imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese products while sticking 25% each to his American neighbors, namely Canada and Mexico. Trump promises to extend such punitive measures to other nations.
But how dumb is Trump?
He needs to be told that the latest data from the United States Office of the Trade Representative show that the country is the second largest exporter of goods in the world with the 2022 figures totaling over 2 trillion dollars while also the largest importer at over 3 trillion dollars for the same year. The simple arithmetic here is that America imports more goods than it exports.
The implication of this trade imbalance is that the United States of America actually needs the world more than the world needs it. Trump needs to recognize that America is in a precarious situation: The country has massive trade deficit and owes over 36 trillion dollars to her trading partners.
The truism explains why countries: China, Mexico, and Canada have moved to retaliate with similar tariffs against American exports to their respective countries. These three countries deserve a sustained standing ovation. But there must be more.
Other nations with trade relationships with America should beat Trump in his own game by following to slam American products with tariffs. The truth is that United States no longer has monopoly on any product. The country’s large export profile is hinged on geo-political sentiments.
The aftermath of a unified response, as common-sense dictates, would a be serious economic crisis in America. On the one hand, consumers will be hit hard with high prices. On the other hand, businesses (that export goods) will lose businesses to outside competition.
The Trump trade bogey has already seen prices of commodities shivering across America, especially in border states, where illegal immigrants were the engine of manufacturing for decades.
Trump regained power in 2025 mainly because of high inflation under President Joe Biden. This inflation, interestingly but unknown to most American voters, was a long-term effect of similar harsh policies during Trump’s first term. Even Trump himself has grudgingly admitted that there could be “some pain” with his latest policies. Yet, a stream of independent economists has predicted that the new tariffs together with his daftness on immigration are bound to drive inflation much higher.
The Americans are impatient, as they are politically naive. Regardless of the merit of any policy, they live for the moment and vote their wallets. They will revolt against what is widely expected to be higher inflation figures under their unapologetic president.
By then Mr. Trump might have learned his lessons and retrace his steps or face a humbling defeat of his Republican party in midterm elections and the dire consequences that are sure to follow. More alarming, the global trade war would most likely reshape geopolitics. Some Western allies could exact and broaden retribution and align with Russia to spike the United States.
The American people do not deserve to be victims of Trump’s assault on human civilization. But the world cannot afford to ignore a leader of the free world who is virally xenophobic, race-baiting, cavalier, incoherent, unapologetic and who draws huge crowds by spewing fantasies as facts. To ignore him is to risk a deeper global crisis where no one is safe.
* SKC Ogbonnia, an Oil and Gas Executive, writes from Houston, Texas.
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