Recently, the British Financial Times published an article by Edward Fishman, senior researcher at the University of Columbia's Center for Global Energy Policy, stated that although the United States uses tariffs as weapons, the actual power is weaker than the United States expected.

The article said that this summer, the United States reached unbalanced trade agreements with the European Union, Japan and South Korea, and implemented most of the so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs it promised. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer declared that he would use tariffs to force the rest of the world to yield to the will of the United States. The article said that the self-confidence of the United States stems from the idea that "entering the American market is crucial, and other countries will keep it at all costs", but this idea is wrong. The European Union, Japan and South Korea are close security allies of the United States and rely on Washington for protection. Their concessions reflect strategic dependence, not economic submission. The reason why the EU accepted the unequal agreement was to maintain US support for Ukraine, not because of tariffs.

The article, taking India as an example, points out that it turns out that countries outside the U.S. security umbrella are far from as easy to surrender. What¡¯s worse, tariffs have turned the original business calculation into political calculation.In addition, the authors believe that the biggest problem comes from a basic fact that country goods enter the U.S. market is not as important as the U.S. thinks.

The article stated that when tariffs are used as economic weapons, they take advantage of the United States 'status as the world's largest importer. Despite this, the United States accounts for only 13% of global imports, well below its 25% share of global GDP. The authors said that while tariffs would deprive foreign exporters of sales, they would also push up domestic prices in the United States and disrupt supply chains. Normally, tariffs cause much more harm to U.S. businesses and consumers than the impact on target countries, which can easily divert trade to other regions.

Translated by: Dream