US trade war with China is 'single stupidest thing you'll ever see' says expert

Following 's so-called "Liberation Day" announcement, where the US president introduced a broad range of import tariffs on territories around the – including one or two uninhabited ones – political expert Ian Dunt has fiercely criticised what he called "the single stupidest thing any of us will ever see".

"This is what empires look like when they fall," Dunt wrote in the , "lost to mania, paranoia, jealousy and spasms of baseless rage."

Announcing the radical move, Trump claimed: "For decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped, and plundered by nations near and far, both friends and foe alike."

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In retaliation, he said, he was imposing hefty levies of up to 50% on goods imported from nearly every country worldwide – with being a notable exception.

Trump unveiled the tariffs at a Washington press conference by displaying a large piece of cardboard listing the countries in no apparent order: "The numbers on the chart were pure gibberish," Dunt comments. "It stated that Vietnam had a 90 per cent tariff on US goods. Needless to say, the country does not. It stated that Japan has a 46 per cent tariff on US goods. Obviously, it does not."

Among the bizarre tariffs was an enormous 50% charge on imports from Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a group of small French-owned islands off the coast of Canada. While not quite as puzzling as the inexplicable 10% import tax on penguin-populated Heard and McDonald islands, but it still leaves many scratching their heads in bafflement.

The logic behind these individual tariffs seems a simplified equation measuring the US trade deficit against the exports of each country, which some commentators have suggested may have been incorrectly calculated by Chat GPT.

"It's hard to state just how nonsensical that actually is," remarked Dunt. "You might as well divide the number of apples in your kitchen by the number of bagels and use it to calculate your mortgage rate. To criticise it on political or economic grounds is too generous. It operates below the level of rational thought."

According to recent figures, the US has the largest trade deficit in the world. It imported $1.1 trillion more than it exported in 2023. The country's trade deficit has been rising continuously since 2019, and has remained in excess of $1 trillion for four years in a row.

The most significant trade imbalance America faces is with – a byproduct of enormous consumer appetite for cheap Chinese goods and corporate America's deep entrenchment in Chinese manufacturing networks.

Following Trump's hefty duties on Chinese items – all set to jack up costs for American shoppers – Beijing has swiftly retaliated with a massive 34% levy on products from the US.

Global financial markets are taking a hit as the spiralling trade war causes share prices to plummet. Describing the consequences of Trump's actions, Dunt highlights the dire situation: "horrific."

With US prices expected to soar, workers will naturally clamour for higher wages, exacerbating the issue further. As if that weren't enough, Dunt points out: "US exporters will be battered by reciprocal tariffs imposed by , the EU and others."

Dunt doesn't mince his words regarding Trump's course of action, predicting a hefty price for what he deems a reckless plan: "No one wins here. We all lose. Countries that trade with the US lose, just like the US itself will lose. Trump himself will lose."

He forewarns of a looming grave economic downturn, asserting that a deep global is now on the cards. The big question Dunt poses is whether "Liberation Day" might trigger a devastating worldwide slump akin to the one preceding World War II – only time will tell.