US tariff debacle vs Global South realities

ON NOVEMBER 5 the Supreme Court of the US will hear oral arguments on whether the US President may, acting alone, impose tariffs under emergency powers.

- CHLOE MALULEKE

The case centres on the actions of Donald Trump and his use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare national emergencies and impose sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico, China and dozens of other countries. In his own words: “Tariffs are vital to this country... If this country is not allowed to have tariffs, ... were going to be a third-world country.” In short; this is American nationalism dressed up as trade policy.

If one stands in the Global South, this moment is not merely about US internal constitutional law, it is about reversing decades of a global trade structure in which the US assumed the role of gatekeeper, rule-maker and policeman.

From this vantage point, the hearing on November 5 matters because it signals whether the world’s largest economy believes it must respect multilateral norms and fairness or whether it chooses to continue arbitrage, coercion and unilateralism.

Trump argues that tariffs give the US the ability to “negotiate on behalf” of the country, even to solve global issues such as fentanyl-trafficking, and to force other countries into compliance, but when a powerful country treats trade policy like a sword rather than a mutual pro-growth relationship, the so-called “negotiations” become threats. In many parts of the Global South such threats translate into sudden nonreciprocal burdens, distortions in supply chains, and forced alignment with US geopolitical goals rather than genuine partnership.