Trump went on to say the skirmish with Colombia – which started and ended within the confines of a Sunday in the US – was an example to every country that they must fall into line or pay a “very high economic price”.
With the world in nervous awe, Trump is keen to telegraph strength and prepared to spin anything into a major victory – even when little of substance has actually changed. Throwing your weight around with Colombia isn’t exactly taking on the big guns. But Trump – aided by his US media boosters lauding it as a masterstroke – will claim it as a win and use it to generate more leverage as he embarks on his America First odyssey.
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Already emboldened by his remarkable political comeback, Republican majorities in Congress, a sympathetic Supreme Court and seemingly unstoppable momentum, Trump will be reassured that his hard-nosed, crash-through approach to foreign interactions is the way to get what he wants.
Former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, now chair of Washington-based strategy firm The Asia Group, says the incident shows the world should take Trump’s threats seriously, especially when he calls tariff “the most beautiful word in the English language”.
“The president, in his own mind, would see himself as having unfettered power … to the extent that you can have unfettered power in a democracy,” Sinodinos says. “He will act accordingly. He will push issues to the nth degree. He will push the limits of the law, test the law and dare courts and others to pull him back.”
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Tariffs are a key tool in the kit. Kevin Hassett, the Trump-appointed director of the National Economic Council, told Fox News: “I think that you saw from the Colombia negotiation that the president is going to use tariffs if he needs to get people to make policy concessions that are good for America.”
Vermont senator and former presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders accused Trump of “trying to bully our allies Canada, Colombia, Denmark and Panama” by threatening tariffs if they don’t bow to his wishes.
Trump, one might assume, would not see that as a criticism.
