America First?…By Yousuf Nazar
The US is hurtling toward an economic abyss, and the stock market’s apocalyptic collapse on April 10, 2025, was a deafening wake-up call.
That day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average didn’t just drop – it cratered by 1,000 points, a gut punch that dragged the Nasdaq and S&P 500 into a tailspin as investors ran for the exits. This wasn’t a hiccup but a full-blown meltdown, sparked by President Trump’s insane escalation of tariffs on Chinese goods to an eye-watering 145 per cent.
China’s counterpunch – 125 per cent duties on US exports – locked America into the most punishing tariff regime since the 1930s, an era when protectionism plunged the world into the Great Depression. Washington’s refusal to heed history is a death wish. Compounding the madness is a grotesque underestimation of China’s grit and guile. The US is stumbling into a trap it built itself, and the clock is ticking down to disaster.
April 10 was no ordinary sell-off but a market uprising against a policy gone rogue. The Dow’s 1,000-point nosedive marked one of the ugliest days in years, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 haemorrhaging value as panic gripped Wall Street. A fleeting rally on April 8, sparked by rumours of a diplomatic thaw, had teased hope – only for the rug to be yanked out when the reality of 145 per cent US tariffs on China and Beijing’s 125 per cent retaliation hit like a sledgehammer.
Volatility exploded, with capital bolting to safe havens and investor confidence evaporating into thin air. This wasn’t a cheer for Trump’s ‘America First’ swagger – it was a primal scream for sanity. Markets are the economy’s pulse, and on April 10, they flatlined, shouting what Washington refuses to hear: this trade war is a losing battle.
The administration’s obsession with the US-China trade deficit – $295 billion in goods in 2023, barely dented by a $20 billion services surplus – is a delusion dressed up as patriotism. Trump peddles it as proof of America’s exploitation, but it’s a myth that won’t die. Economists like Nobel laureate Paul Krugman have shredded this nonsense: trade deficits are a snapshot of America’s appetite for imports and investment.
The US isn’t losing – it’s choosing. Yet the White House wields 145 per cent tariffs like a blunt axe, hacking apart supply chains and jacking up prices for businesses and families. April 10’s market implosion was the inevitable backlash to a policy that strangles more than it saves. Tariffs won’t ‘fix’ the deficit; they’ll just bleed the economy dry.
History bellows, and the US is deaf to it. In 1930, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act jacked up duties to ‘protect’ American industries. The fallout was apocalyptic: global trade collapsed by 66 per cent, retaliation snowballed, and the Great Depression sank its claws in deeper. Stocks tanked, unemployment hit 25 per cent and recovery vanished until war reset the board.
Today, with US tariffs averaging 25 per cent – the highest since 1909 – the echoes are deafening. Smoot-Hawley didn’t shield prosperity; it torched it, and April 10’s market carnage proves the same fire is smoldering now. To pretend otherwise is plain denial. The US isn’t bulletproof; it’s brittle, and the spectre of the 1930s looms large.
China is outmanoeuvring the US, which is too arrogant to notice that. Foreign Affairs magazine nails it in ‘Underestimating China’: Beijing’s economic stamina and strategic playbook are leagues ahead of Western miscalculations. China’s exports now flow through Southeast Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, dodging US tariffs with ruthless efficiency. Its Belt and Road Initiative and push for tech independence – think semiconductors and AI – are a blueprint for dominance.
Meanwhile, the European Union is cosying up to Beijing, locking in trade deals to secure its own future while the US flails. This is a seismic shift, and April 10’s sell-off just sped it up. China’s playing chess; America’s stuck on checkers.
The road ahead splits into four grim future scenarios, each a warning in neon. One, forced capitulation: another market haemorrhage forces the US to negotiate, battered and begging for a tariff ceasefire. The best of bad options, if ego doesn’t block it.
Two, trade armageddon: tariffs metastasize to tech and services, shredding supply chains and unleashing a global depression. The 1930s on steroids. Three, deadlock decay: high tariffs fester, strangling growth and investment in a grinding standoff. Death by boredom and bankruptcy.
Four, lonely collapse: allies ditch the US for new trade alliances, leaving America isolated and irrelevant. A superpower sidelined.
April 10’s plunge tees up the first scenario, but only if the US swallows its pride now. Digging in spells doom.
Time’s up. Clinging to 145 per cent tariffs on China is a one-way ticket to ruin – raging inflation, terrified investors and a replay of the 1930s’ nightmare. China’s defiance, Europe’s pivot, and the markets’ revolt on April 10 are facts and they demand action. The US must ditch the tariff fetish, rally its allies and sit down with China to salvage trade before the floor caves in.
This isn’t about saving face, it’s about saving the economy. April 10 was a flare gun. The US can’t bunker down or bluff its way past China’s resolve. History’s lessons are glaring, and the market’s judgment is final: pivot now or crash hard.
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