The April 2025 edition of the IRMO Brief, authored by Vladimir Nišević, deals with the tariffs imposed by the US President Donald Trump. US administration has designated five sectors as strategically important for the country: aluminum and steel, automobiles, wood, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. At the time when the US is facing external debt exceeding 60% of GDP, unemployment and weakening middle class, Trump’s tariffs are crashing global stock markets and triggering a wave of price hikes. Trump’s moves have also revealed all the weak spots of the European Union. Europe lags behind the US in two crucial segments: the military and technological innovations. The tariff war comes at a particularly vulnerable time for Europe, which has been facing the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine for more than three years. The author also analyzes how quarrels between China and US could escalate into not just shaking the global economy, but into bringing the two powers on the edge of a military conflict.
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