PNN – US President Donald Trump’s “economic revolution” in imposing tariffs is rooted in a simple theory: America has been humiliated and exploited by foreign countries for decades, and only Trump has the courage to address them.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, Trump’s victim base has fueled much of his political activism, and now this situation has become global, and not just Trump’s domestic enemies, but the entire world is feeling the weight of Trump’s revenge.
The economic section of the American media Axios says: Don’t think that America has the world’s largest economy, the most powerful military, unprecedented household wealth, and low unemployment rates.
Trump has been remarkably consistent in portraying America as a global leader. This approach has recently been reintroduced in the American media. Trump emphasized this approach in an interview with Oprah in 1988.
In his April 2nd “Freedom Day” speech, Trump declared: For decades, our country has been plundered and plundered by countries near and far, both friends and foes. Now it is our turn to move forward.
From deserted islands to impoverished regions, no country can escape the wrath of a president who believes America has been deceived for decades.
This includes Israel, where officials were shocked to face a 17% US tariff despite having eliminated their own.
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This includes Lesotho, a small African country where most people cannot afford to import American goods because they lack the economic capacity, and which is now facing an existential crisis due to Trump’s 50% tariff.
The tariffs even include Australia’s volcanic territory of Heard Island and McDonald Islands, which are populated mainly by penguins, but were penalized with a 10% tariff.
Trump believes that many countries engage in unfair trade practices against the United States and that globalization has emptied key parts of the American industrial base.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has a long history of trade abuses: intellectual property theft, forced technology transfers, government subsidies, and market access restrictions for foreign companies, Axios says.
The EU does not operate in China’s way, but it does protect itself through massive subsidies to the agricultural sector and strict regulatory standards that are often seen as trade barriers.
But Trump’s historic action on tariffs is not about targeted leverage or negotiable reforms. It is about fixing decades of injustice through sheer force, even against countries that are unable to “victimize” America.
Trump believes that the American people share his discontents and that he is willing to fundamentally restructure the global economic order, regardless of the cost.
Victimhood, whether real or imagined, has always been central to Trump’s political identity. His 2024 campaign was marred by resentment that began with a lie against him that the 2020 election was rigged.
He described every investigation and indictment as a “fake prosecution,” from Russia to the Signal messaging scandal. He survived an assassination attempt and used it to portray the narrative of persecution that underpins his brand.