The Internationalism

Internationalism No. 84, February 2026 Page 10 With the leverage of reciprocal tariffs, announced on liberation day in April and implemented from August, Donald Trump has so far wrested around fifteen advantageous bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom, the EU, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, Argentina, and other smaller countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Due to its unique characteristics, the agreement with Malaysia stands out and is considered by the White House a model, demonstrating the strategic ambitions of the tariff war. An Article 5 At the end of October, the Malaysian government hosted the 47 th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), celebrating the accession of East Timor as its 11 th member. At the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Trump announced two framework agreements with Vietnam and Thailand, and two reciprocal trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia. These results went relatively ...

Internationalism No. 78-79, August-September 2025 Page 10 Donald Trump has always maintained that trade wars are easy to win . The first six months of his second term show that they are not even easy to start. In addition to the new 10% universal tariff on all exports to the US, on April 2 nd – Liberation Day – President Trump ordered aggressive reciprocal tariffs against some 60 countries, only to immediately postpone them for three months when the first worrying tremors hit the stock, debt, and dollar markets. One month, ten agreements To reassure Wall Street, the White House promised 90 agreements in those 90 days, offering a discount on reciprocal tariffs to the threatened nations in exchange for concessions, such as the purchase of US arms and energy, commitments to heavy investment in the United States, and greater market openness to American goods...