This is apropos two back-to-back letters to the Editor from this writer carried by the newspaper on Thursday and yesterday. In October 2025, a federal appeals court in the US ruled that large portions of Trump’s tariff regime violated constitutional limits under the IEEPA.
The case, now before the Supreme Court, threatens to nullify the programme entirely. If upheld, the ruling could force Washington to refund up to $1 trillion in illegally collected tariffs to importers and foreign companies — turning a perceived fiscal victory into a staggering liability.
Abroad, allies have grown disillusioned. Canada, once America’s most dependable partner, has frozen joint energy projects and suspended several defense procurement agreements.
The European Union has accelerated plans for “strategic autonomy” — reducing reliance on US markets and military backing. Even India, which Trump once courted as a counterweight to China, has shifted toward a seemingly non-aligned stance. The geopolitical cost of Trump’s tariff crusade may, in time, exceed its economic toll.
While the tariff policy faltered on the global front, Trump’s domestic agenda ignited turmoil at home. His pre-election vow to expel Chinese students from American universities and remove undocumented immigrants from the United States ran into fierce institutional and popular resistance.
University presidents, state governors, and business leaders across the country denounced the policy as self-destructive, depriving the nation of talent and labour. Mass arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — often televised and heavy-handed — shocked the public conscience.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a former Press Secretary to the President, An ex-Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France, a former MD, SRBC Macomb, Detroit, Michigan
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.