- Ponmala
Rich as Donald J. Trump was, what made him a household name in America is the 1987 book The Art of the Deal, which he co-authored with the journalist Tony Schwartz. It dug deep into the core of capitalism, which sees the entire gamut of human relationships through the prism of transactional deals. In other words, every human endeavour is weighed in a scale whose two arms are profit and loss. The Art of the Deal gives tips not only on how every relationship can be turned into a profitable deal, but also on how loss can artfully be projected as profit to one’s own advantage. It is capitalism in its purest and dirtiest form.
Capitalist America gave Trump a chance to make the country great again by putting his art-of-the-deal into practice at the national as well as at the international level by choosing him as president. As for Trump, making America great again is equivalent to making America rich again. And the magic wand he wields to make the richest country of the world infinitely rich is tariff. To Trump’s credit it must be said that he has for long believed tariff is an untapped source that could make America – and in the process him and his clan – so rich that no country in the world, including China, would ever catch up with it. By introducing sweeping tariffs Trump is aiming to kill two birds with one arrow – increase revenue collection and promote local manufacturing.
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“Using mediation for settling disputes is an age-old practice… But Trump is the first don in history who has volunteered to settle international disputes.”
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“The tariff war Trump has declared on the world will ultimately lead to America’s isolation.”
Simply put, tariff is the tax a country levies on the goods it imports. It was generally used by poorer nations to protect their products from cut-throat competition posed by richer countries who have the financial muscle to undercut the former until they shut shop. But Trump is seeing tariff as a means to raise revenues for his country, stubbornly refusing to accept that it is the American citizen who has to bear its burden. Try as much as experts may, Trump and his MAGA followers are like the dog who barks at its image in the mirror. The dog does not realise that it is barking at itself. Similarly, they don’t realise that tariff is something that they are levying on themselves. Or is it a purposeful display of ignorance, which for them is an essential component of the art-of-the-deal?
Magic is just magic. The reality it hides will eventually show up. Since the time Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on all imported goods on 2 April 2025, the US exchequer has received around 300 billion dollars by way of it. But, parallelly, the prices of commodities have also gone up. As for promoting local manufacturing, the magic wand is hardly of any use. Setting up factories is a time-consuming affair. Besides, the labour component that it entails will be far higher than it is in countries from where commodities are imported. For example, America’s average wage for an hour is equivalent to India’s average wage for a day. Imported goods could thus end up to be cheaper than locally manufactured goods, despite the prescribed tariffs.
Using mediation for settling disputes is an age-old practice. Every community has people who have won a name as impartial judges. They hear the disputing parties and arrive at a just solution. They do it as a service to society. But now you also have instances of aggrieved parties approaching underworld dons for redressal. The don agrees to meditate for a fee. Fearing retribution, the second party in the dispute submits to the don’s summons. With the help of lawyers, the don arrives at a just verdict. Both the disputing parties submit to the verdict for fear of dear life. Trump is the first don in history who has volunteered to settle international disputes. For it, he uses tariff as a weapon of submission. But, instead of charging a fee, he hands down a verdict that serves his self-interest best. A typical application of his art-of-the-deal for settling international disputes.
Trump claims he forced India and Pakistan agree to a ceasefire in their recent four-day old war by threatening to use tariff as a weapon. And now he is threatening Russia with sky-high tariffs unless it agrees to a negotiated end to its war with Ukraine. Despite the fact that he is batting for Putin for reasons of personal indebtedness in helping him win his first term as American president, the latter is refusing to budge until and unless his terms for settling the dispute are fully met. A frustrated Trump is turning against India in search of a way out. He blames India of assisting Russia’s war machine by buying its oil. He can’t turn against China, which buys more Russian oil than India, because he fears Xi Jinping could retaliate by turning off the supply of rare earth metals that are vital to America’s manufacturing sector.
India and Trump’s chum Modi have thus become the scapegoat for finding a solution to a war that is fought far from its shores. That is the price they have to pay for not reading Trump’s The Art of the Deal and taking its seriously. The lamb that befriends a jackal will ultimately fall a prey to it. India is now caught in a catch-22 situation. Its archenemy Pakistan is now in the protective embrace of estranged friend America and feared foe China. Jilted by Trump, Modi’s decade-old bromance with him has come to a tragic end. Driven to a corner by Trump with high tariffs, Modi has little choice but to kneel down before adversarial Xi Jinping and kiss his hand.
The tariff war Trump has declared on the world will ultimately lead to America’s isolation. No one will look up to America for a help or mediation, because, under Trump, that country thinks only in terms of profit and loss… the art of the deal. Nearly beaten to a pulp by Trump’s tariff, India will be forced to choose the path of self-reliance, which is the only way it can become truly independent.
