Simon Nixon’s

Political
Economy

‘Some in Europe Are Starting to Fear the Continent Has Entered Its Own Century of Humiliation’

You have to hand it to Donald Trump. This really has been the most consequential start to a presidency in modern times. And, at least on a political level, it is hard to deny that the US President has been remarkably successful.

In little more than six months, he has overturned a global trading system that had been 80 years in the making.

Access to the US market, which used to be based on stable and predictable rules, is now based on presidential whim – with each country’s trading terms now subject to a bilateral transaction. In the process, he has raised the average US tariff rate to about 20%, from 2% at the start of his term – the highest level since the 1930s.

And he has got away with it.