In Trump 2.0, it's America first, world last
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Abandoning the historical claim of the US to be leader of the free world, he said this had meant America paid for the security of others. He would now make others pay America for their security. This puts NATO partners on notice.
He announced the creation of a Department of External Revenue. This would collect high tariffs from imports to help build America. No longer, he said, would America cut tariffs to help others prosper, he would force others to pay to make America prosper. This portends an era of high tariffs, retaliation from others, and trade wars. That will hit world trade and growth everywhere, including in India. He promised to «Make in America and Hire in America». That will hit Indian H-1B visa seekers and disrupt dollar remittances from the US to India.
Not for a century has an American president made such a frankly imperialist speech. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of President William Mckinley (1897-01), who started the Spanish American War of 1898 on a bogus excuse, grabbed Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines from Spain, and annexed Hawaii as well. Mckinley also levied high protectionist tariffs to promote American manufacturing.
Recalling how America had won the West, Trump talked of American «Manifest Destiny» in colonising Mars. «Manifest Destiny» was the 19th century
