Donald Trump made tariff weapon against India, Indonesia, pressure on countries to buy US weapons, what is ‘Swiss Army knife’ doctrine?
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has been in the news for his trade and tariff-related policies and decisions. It is being said that the Trump regime has been using tariffs as a weapon against those countries which are considered America’s adversaries.
What are the accusations against Donald Trump?
In this regard, The Washington Post has made a shocking disclosure citing internal documents of the Trump administration. It has been reported that the arguments, like America’s national security, that Donald Trump gives publicly for imposing tariffs are, in reality, tools to benefit a few private companies related to Trump. The Washington Post says that the Trump administration has on several occasions linked trade talks to issues that traditionally have no connection with trade agreements.
What is the role of US State Department in coercing maritime countries?
To substantiate its claim, the report has shared an example that recently, the US State Department officials considered putting pressure on maritime countries like Singapore to oppose international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of large cargo ships. The document shows that under this strategy, tariffs and trade negotiations have been used to get Israel to remove a Chinese company from the Haifa port, to get public support from South Korea for the deployment of US troops against China, and to get many countries to buy American weapons, which was not done till now.
What is America’s plan against India?
The Washington Post report, citing the document, claims that the Trump administration had prepared a plan to use tariffs against India as well, the purpose of which was to increase pressure on India to buy American weapons.
According to the report, the White House put pressure on New Delhi through trade talks to buy American weapons and strengthen its defence cooperation. Apart from this, India was asked to be sufficiently close to the USA in economic and national security matters, so that concessions can be given in tariffs. The document shows that the Trump administration has also put pressure on countries like Indonesia and India to increase their defence budget.
What was the US plank on Russian oil?
For this, they used the pretext of Russian crude oil and imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India. The documents say that in the initial weeks after President Trump put his “reciprocal” tariffs on hold for negotiations on April 9, US officials devised plans to compel countries close to China to closer defence ties, including purchases of American equipment and port visits.
According to the report, “The US put pressure on many countries of the world”.
What is the Swiss Army knife doctrine?
The Washington Post, citing documents, says that for Trump, tariffs were a “Swiss Army knife” that served multiple purposes, including not just economic negotiations, but also geopolitical pressure, military strategy and influencing environmental policies.
The Trump administration threatened India with a 50% tariff to stop buying oil from Russia and warned Brazil that a 50% tariff would be imposed if legal action against former President Bolsonaro was not stopped, and it did so. Similarly, Colombia was threatened with tariffs to force it to expel illegal immigrants from the US. These examples clearly show that tariff policy was not just about correcting “unbalanced trade” but became a center of political bargaining.
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