The barrage of tariffs unleashed on Wednesday, April 2, by Donald Trump on the world's exports to the United States is not only economically foolish. It is also profoundly unjust, as it inexplicably and overwhelmingly targets the poorest countries. In his outburst against the entire world, which he accuses of swindling the US, the billionaire president drew no distinctions – placing the Fourth World on the same level as developed economies and sometimes even treating it even more harshly.
As if the earthquake that struck Myanmar last week wasn't tragic enough, the country is now facing 45% tariffs. Cambodia, whose GDP is comparable to that of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), received the dubious honor of a digression from Trump during the presentation of his trade policy from the White House Rose Garden. "Oh, look at Cambodia, 97% [tariffs]," he said, before pretending to be benevolent: "We're gonna bring it down to 49%. They made a fortune off the United States of America," he said in front of laughing members of his cabinet.
Exports from Sri Lanka, which defaulted on its debt in 2022, will be taxed at a prohibitive rate of 44%. Lesotho was mistaken in believing it was protected by a trade agreement negotiated in 2000 by Bill Clinton. Its tariff will be 50% despite the US being the second-biggest destination for its exports. This is a fatal blow to the economy of this small Southern African country, landlocked within South Africa. Madagascar, Syria, Iraq, Angola, Bangladesh: the list is dizzying in the face of such inequity from the world's leading power, whose GDP per capita is among the highest on the planet.
While Trump's protectionist madness may have deleterious effects on the growth of European Union members, China, or even the US, these countries will recover. For the most fragile developing countries, however, the consequences will be dramatic in terms of poverty, unemployment and political stability.
The blow is all the more severe as it is accompanied by the simultaneous withdrawal of USAID subsidies, another Trump decision. Deprived of humanitarian and health support, dozens of countries are now on the verge of losing vital export revenues, without which their economies risk collapsing.
These countries are not "freeloaders," as the US president claims. Their only wrongdoing is running trade surpluses with the US, which have only been made possible by development policies – notably through tariff exemptions – that Washington originally advocated for.
While Trump may feel a sense of omnipotence by forcing the poorest part of the planet to plead for his tariff mercy, for the US, this hubris will be very costly in the long term. Today's American cynicism will inevitably foster resentment from a large part of the international community. Between countries that will turn their backs on the US and those that will draw closer to China, one wonders more than ever about Trump's strategy. He wanted to restore America's greatness, but he is leading his country's weakening with unforgivable indecency.