Cartoon by Dennis Goris

Trump’s race to honor his promises is bringing risk and turmoil to America and the world

Analysis by Stephen Collinson

CNN: President Donald Trump is doing exactly what he said he’d do.

He’s launching hard-power trade wars to please voters marginalized by the globalized economy. He’s acting on despair over fentanyl’s murderous toll. He’s launched a migrant crackdown amid anxiety over a porous southern border. And the president, with the help of Elon Musk, is starting to gut the government that his supporters blame for their problems.

“When a president is elected by the People and then does what he promised to do, that’s democracy,” Vice President JD Vance wrote on X on Saturday night. “When a president is thwarted by unelected bureaucrats, that’s oligarchy. President Trump refuses to bend the knee to that oligarchy. Buckle up!”

Yet Trump’s frantic push to honor campaign promises by a plurality of voters may come with a price.

Abroad, it threatens to compromise traditional American leadership and obligations the country has long set for itself, which are vital to the functioning of the global economy. International agreements and undertakings made to allies are also in peril — like the North American trade deal Trump trampled with huge new tariffs on Canada and Mexico and the treaty under which the US handed over control of the Panama Canal.

And at home, a quickening purge of federal government workers and erratic spending decisions have already called into question assistance that’s critical to the well-being of millions of citizens, as well as the legality of ousting scores of federal workers to fulfill Trump’s political whims.

As Trump’s second presidency enters its third week, there are growing questions over whether his radical disruption — which often flouts generations of US policy and even challenges the law — will fix any of the problems he was elected to solve.

Could it instead cleave deeper national divides, create economic chaos and pain for consumers — who elected him, in part, to lower prices — spike job losses, and leave America isolated after alienating its best friends in the world and destroying the international order?

Trump won’t hear of such talk. You can argue with his grasp of economics. But he’s promising a complete overhaul of the global, free trade economy and a rebuilding of the US manufacturing base — even if it throws American allies into economic crises.

The days of a rising tide lifting all boats are over.

“MAKE YOUR PRODUCT IN THE USA AND THERE ARE NO TARIFFS!” the president wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “Why should the United States lose TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN SUBSIDIZING OTHER COUNTRIES.”

Trump is making huge gambles with America’s future
Trump announced 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% levies on Chinese imports that are due to come into force at 12:01 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

The president said Sunday evening that he plans to speak to leaders in Canada and Mexico on Monday, though gave no sign he’d change his mind.

“I don’t expect anything very dramatic. We put tariffs on. They owe us a lot of money, and I’m sure they’re going to pay,” Trump told reporters as he stepped off Air Force One.

His faith in tariffs — a familiar device that helped speed the descent into the 1930s Great Depression — represents a huge gamble.

“This is a self-inflicted wound to the American economy,” former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers said on CNN’s “Inside Politics Sunday.” Summers, who served under Democratic President Bill Clinton, added: “I’d expect inflation over the next three or four months to be higher as a consequence, because the price level has to go up when you put a levy on goods that people are buying.”

Dismantling government can also be dangerous. A temporary spending freeze, hurriedly withdrawn by the White House last week, hinted at mayhem that could ensue if federal services on which millions depend go away.