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For better or worse, whatever happens to the US economically has ripple effects across the globe.
We learned that when Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, triggering the largest global recession of the 21st century — aftereffects that still linger today. We learned it again during the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost the US economy over $14 trillion overall. It plunged the world into chaos: supply chain disruptions, mass unemployment, and skyrocketing debt (and that’s putting it mildly) But as volatile as those situations were, nothing compares to what’s happening now.
Donald Trump’s tariffs have tanked the US stock market, crashed consumer confidence, and thrown the global economy into a slow but steady downward spiral. The IMF has slashed growth forecasts. Most regulatory bodies now predict an imminent recession.
Trump’s second term has been marked by an alarming streak of authoritarianism, war-mongering, and unethical mass deportations. But globally, it’s the economy that’s making the biggest headlines. To put it bluntly: he’s making an absolute boondoggle of things, for reasons that seem to only make sense, only to him.
To call it chaotic is an understatement. It’s…a global catastrophe. Let’s take some time to analyse it.
Raising Red Flags All Over The Globe
Trump’s go-to defence remains that he’s doing the right thing. But no one buys that anymore.
At this point, his central rhetoric of ‘bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US’ seems half-baked at best. Yes, the US has seen significant offshoring of manufacturing over the past few decades, harming its middle class. It’s a problem that needs honest, serious addressing.
But…it’s important to remember: America is still the second-largest manufacturer in the world, after China. In 2022 alone, US manufacturing output totalled $2.5 trillion — a fact the current administration promptly ignores whenever it feels like bullying other countries and then playing victim.
As of now, the US still has around 500,000 manufacturing jobs available. Trump’s narrative ignores that fact — and conveniently overlooks that many of the Silicon Valley tech giants he cozied up to were the ones responsible for sending those jobs overseas in the first place.
And that stock market crash he’s caused? It’s taken a wrecking ball to those same tech companies too. As of Q1 2025, the Nasdaq Composite and the S & P 500 have fallen to their record lows in recent history — wiping out at least $9–10 trillion in market capitalisation. Raising tremendous amounts of investor panic and leaving people scratching their heads in fear, anger, and confusion. Just what is this guy up to?
Now, while there’s nothing wrong with strategically using tariffs to negotiate better trade terms, what Trump is doing is so bizarre that it’s beyond parody. Rather than identifying unfair trade practices and eliminating them surgically, he’s slapped crude, blanket tariffs on countries that are…traditionally allies of the United States (huh?).
According to The Donald, he seems to be doing the world a favour by imposing his will on the European Union, Japan, and…Canada (yeah wtf). All the while, he keeps on cozying up to adversaries like Russia and continues to seem utterly beholden to Israeli interests (don’t get us started here). Economists have estimated that Trump’s tariffs have raised costs for American businesses and consumers by over $80 billion annually. And that number isn’t even the most significant one.
What Is Trump Really Trying To Achieve?
So what exactly is the plan? The endgame to all of this?
Several theories have been floated: extreme political theatre to please his base; a deliberate attempt to devalue the economy and hawk it to Wall Street and his Curtis Yarvin-influenced Silicon Valley ‘tech bros’.
Others believe it’s just a case of rampant arrogance, delusional narcissism, mixed with dangerous economic illiteracy. A few even whisper about darker motives linked to foreign interests.
By all accounts, only one man can answer the question–the President of the United States himself. But as he’s done for decades, Trump doesn’t care about anything — as long as he asserts his will (and makes some spare cash on the side).
When cornered or questioned, he falls back into full defiance and denial mode, a tactic he was taught by the infamous Roy Cohn in the 1980s. He seems more interested in golfing, pulling bizarre White House publicity stunts, and floating absurd ideas — like selling US citizenship for $5 million, as if it were a product on eBay.
Whatever the truth, one thing is painfully clear: the country is being run by an incompetent, inexperienced government — one that constantly uses misinformation and absurd, racist jingoism to mask the ugly truth: they don’t have a clue what they’re doing. And all of this isn’t even including the non-stop fiascos brought on by Elon Musk (don’t even get us started on that DOGE dumpster fire)
While the recent 90-day ‘pause on the tariffs’ has provided temporary relief to investors and the general public, there is no doubt that severe and irreversible economic damage has already been done — and many lives have already been destroyed. The current market recovery might give people a little bit of oxygen and prevent them from being suffocated, but they can never feel fully secure. As they know, he’s going to be resuming his reign of terror very, very soon. This will lead to even more uncertainty and economic anxiety. It’s the equivalent of a short break in the middle of a waterboarding session.
His recent ridiculous $100 million tariff on ‘foreign-made movies’ to ‘save Hollywood seems to indicate that the guy has a level of delusion that is simply unmatched. All in all, the world is witnessing the aftereffects of entrusting the world’s largest economy and the most powerful country into the hands of a man who never understood — or cared to understand — how the world actually works. Speaking of which…
Global Mass Confusion
So, how have other countries reacted to Trump?
Well, for starters, by being competent.
Global trust in the US has all but collapsed. It was perhaps on shaky ground before, but now, it’s practically written in stone. What’s absurd is that the only country that seems not to understand it is the United States itself. As of now, it has become a global aggressor for totally absurd reasons, and then it’s complaining about not getting respect in both global and economic terms.
Sure, economics isn’t an exact science. People from different walks of life believe in different theories, and that’s fine. There isn’t a perfect economic model. However, that doesn’t mean you choose the most ridiculous option available just because it sounds good on a bumper sticker.
Trump may be serious about “sticking it to the Chinese,” and some of his resentment is probably justified. However, while he’s busy flip-flopping over ridiculous tariff rates like a pawn shop cashier (245% at the moment of writing this article; shocker, I know.), China has responded like any grown-up nation would: strategically.
It has doubled down on global diplomacy and has actively been building alliances across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, which ironically leverages the vacuum that the US has decided to leave behind. Imagine that.These days, it has worked to ease tensions with Europe in response to the tariffs. It is now also open to collaborate with India to fight the tariffs. Imagine that.
That’s right — China. A country with a long history of exploiting and abusing its trade partners is now outmaneuvering the US and positioning itself as the more reasonable player on the world stage.
Canada, with whom Trump decided to pick a fight for some reason, is also having none of it. They’ve raised a middle finger to Trump and boycotted American goods. They are also focused on deepening trade ties with Europe and Asia to offset some of the economic damage and cover their backs. They are allying with the European Union and multiple South East Asian nations so that they have enough breathing room to tell the US to get f**ked. And can you blame them?
Meanwhile, Trump’s quote on wanting to annex Greenland — and the international mockery that followed is another global WTF moment that only serves to highlight just how delusional the US diplomacy has become (as if Vice President JD Vance hadn’t already made it obvious). Europe hasn’t tolerated the US’s nonsense either — launching its own countermeasures. This stands in stark contrast to the current US administration, which seems perfectly content to sit at home, roll out one absurd, self-sabotaging policy after another, and alienate every major ally.
Its supposed ‘handling’ of the ‘peace deal’ between Russia and Ukraine is also heading toward outright disaster. It’s unclear, incoherent, and seems to be leaving Ukraine more vulnerable and confused than ever about just where it stands.
In fact, he now seems perfectly willing to throw Putin under the bus. I mean, it’s really hard to keep up at this stage.
Remember the days when the world used to look up to the US as the world’s policeman? The great stabiliser? All of that seems like an alternate reality at this point. Today, it seems determined to get itself kicked out of NATO — and other countries seem happy to show it the door.
What we’re seeing is countries across the world finally realizing that the US is no longer a leader, but just another unstable so-called ‘player’ on the global geopolitical chessboard.
The View Back Home
So, how were the tariffs regarded back home in India?
To put it as diplomatically as possible, they were met with a very neutral response.
There has been some excellent coverage of it by Palki Sharma, but for the rest of the media… it was, I guess, another Tuesday.
But the rest of the Indian media is too busy either creating targeted distractions or pumping out narratives. At least, that’s what it seems like. Silly WWE-style public CEO debates on the startup scene continue to dominate the headlines. (Is Zepto only a glorified department store? Sure, but is that the most important issue?)
Out-of-touch politicians whining about the lack of deep-tech startups seem to ignore just how poor education, AI investment, and tech funding are in the country (like, duh).Meanwhile, there’s some Bollywood news, some IPL news, etc.
While some may call it regular deflection tactics (and much of it is), the bigger issue is the lack of global focus. It is worth noting that global news simply does not sell as well in India as local shenanigans by bargain-basement B-list Bollywood celebrities, or the umpteenth political rally or Shashi Tharoor monologue. So… yeah. Business as usual.
But since irony is a foreign concept here, here are a few other things are worth noting (and showing passive-aggressive resentment towards).
Firstly, Tesla (which has now become a stigmatised company) was trumpeted as finally ‘launching’ in India in a celebratory tone (hmm). Meanwhile, the UN was publicly dissed on a podcast (are we sure that’s what we want?). It gives the impression that we are more interested in optics and sucking up to certain parties, rather than displaying any global leadership.
It’s also worth noting that Indians did not retaliate in any way when the tariffs were slapped on them. Instead, a ‘deal’ was made (hmm…does anyone have access to those details?). What that says about us — we’ll let you come to your own opinion. But if you think it doesn’t have anything to do with our relatively weak global competitiveness on trade — well… it’s like we said: you can form your own conclusion (cough cough).
As mentioned above, people will have different perspectives on the tariffs, since everyone is an armchair economist these days. But the news media should have done a better job in reporting how the 26% import tariffs imposed on India (on pause for 90 days for the time being) have affected, and will affect, local industries and businesses across the country.
Moreover, there should have been more coverage on how adversely the tariffs have affected important sectors like the diamond trade and automobiles.
Often, this country appears not just oblivious, but self-infatuated — obsessed more with internal concerns than global realities. A lot of news outlets that do try to highlight key issues are mostly drowned out by the distractions mentioned earlier. It’s frustrating to see how little attention the real global conversations are getting here. And there is a total lack of curiosity among people.
There seems to be a sense of apathy about the larger, more pressing global matters, and that’s one of the pet peeves of the current media environment. Must we always look inward and be so self-obsessed?
A lot of times, the potential to truly lead on the world stage is there, but we don’t seem to want to pursue it with the focus it deserves.
Are Our World Leaders Fit To Lead?
If you’re someone who’s fully joined the conspiracy theory bandwagon, believing this is part of a dark and sinister global plot that will reveal itself over time — then good for you. Enjoy your silly podcasts on the internet.
Those of us who are not part of the circus prefer to deal with the facts. Whatever country or politics you support, it’s hard not to see this as yet another example of global leadership failing — with zero accountability, and leaders exploiting gaps caused by short-termism and outdated ideologies. All of it at the detriment of regular people.
World leadership has become a fractured, fragmented thing. Leaders everywhere are looking after their own interests at the expense of others. Global issues like climate change, technological disruption, and economic inequality have been sidelined, and their own political survival has been prioritized.
The result? We find ourselves facing the same problems over and over again, without real solutions.
So, are our world leaders fit to lead? The answer, at least for now, seems unclear. While we remain hopeful for actual leadership to emerge, people everywhere are left dealing with the consequences of the leadership (or lack thereof) we currently have in these uncertain times.
The world doesn’t need more silence.
It needs more thinkers, writers, and speakers who care enough to call things out.
If you’ve got opinions that won’t sit quietly, write to us at [email protected].
Your voice belongs here.
