The US attack on Venezuela has pulled eyeballs from nations across the globe. From the Venezuelan President and his wife’s arrest to zealing to take control of the attacked country’s vast oil reserve, the US supremo’s actions have stirred quite a debate on the world forum. But when we reminisce the past, we have realised that this is not the first time that the world has gone gaga over a Donald Trump-imposed decision.
Long before sanctions on Caracas, On March 1, 2018, the US President, Donald Trump, announced his intention to impose a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminium imports. In a tweet the next day, Trump declared, "Trade wars are good, and easy to win." On March 8, he signed an order to impose the tariffs effective after 15 days. Not long after, the list of exemptions, alterations and modifications started pouring in.
After Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 election, many might have thought that the haze of tariff is over. In reality, tariff was coming back stronger. Donald Trump formally announced his campaign for the 2024 elections on November 15, 2022, and since then, tariffs have been his one of the strongest modus operandi to come back to the Oval Office. And since he came back in January 2025, tariffs have again grabbed headlines. Here’s how the world has witnessed the US going to and fro about it during 2025, and subsequently how retaliations formed and resolved (or have they?) during the timeline.
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Trump 2.0 opens with tariffs, not treaties
Donald Trump’s second presidency did not wait for the honeymoon period. January 2025 arrived with trade policy already weaponised. Instead of easing post-pandemic distortions, the administration revived tariffs as its primary diplomatic tool. Within weeks, Canada, Mexico and China were placed back under the microscope, reviving memories of the 2018-19 trade war, only this time with fewer guardrails and far more legal improvisation.
By early February, Washington announced steep new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, quickly followed by a temporary 30-day pause on Mexico. The delay did little to calm markets. Meanwhile, low-value duty-free shipments from China were briefly restored. In this stance, was the administration still calibrating pressure points rather than retreating?
President Trump first announced aluminium and steel tariffs on February 10, 2025. These initial proclamations reinstated a 25 per cent tariff on global steel imports and increased aluminium tariffs from the previous 10 per cent to 25 per cent, while also terminating previous country-specific exemptions.
March: the return of heavy metal economics
March was when the gloves came off. The blanket 25 per cent tariff on aluminium and steel imports took effect from March 12, followed by an additional 10 per cent levy on Chinese imports. Canada was hit again with a further 25 per cent duty on steel and aluminium.
In response, then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would retaliate with 25 per cent tariffs on CAD30 billion (USD 20.6 billion) of American goods, which would expand to CAD 155 billion (USD 106 billion) after three weeks.
At the same time, tariffs were announced on countries purchasing Venezuelan oil, folding geopolitics directly into trade enforcement. This was not tariff policy as economics — this was tariff policy as leverage.
April 2: Liberation Day, or how tariffs went global
This was a ‘buckle up’ moment for the world, because "Liberation Day" turned the global trade playground upside down on April 2, 2025. President Trump stood in the Rose Garden and essentially told the world, "If you tax us, we're taxing you right back—but with a 'kind' discount". He rolled out a two-tier tax party: a 10 per cent baseline cover charge for almost everyone starting April 5, followed by customised, much higher "reciprocal" rates for the US-deemed "trade offenders" on April 9.
The math behind these custom rates was as quirky as the name itself. Instead of matching every single foreign tax line by line, the administration used a "back-of-the-envelope" formula that basically divided a country's trade surplus by its exports to the US and then cut that number in half.
Simultaneously, a 25 per cent duty on imported beer & aluminium cans, and assembled automobiles & car parts was announced on the same day.
This led to some eye-watering results. China got slapped with a 54 per cent total rate (stacking new taxes on top of old ones), while Vietnam faced 46 per cent, and India landed at 26 per cent. Even tiny spots like the Falkland Islands were invited to the party with a 41 per cent rate, likely due to some misclassified wine and boot shipments.
April to May: a side effect ‘retaliation’ or
China responded within weeks, implementing 125 per cent of the tariff burden imposed by the US. By May, Washington confirmed a trade deal with the UK, its first major post-Liberation Day agreement, signalling a new transactional order: tariff first, handshake later.
The US and China reached a temporary truce to reduce tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 per cent to 30 per cent, but the damage had already been done. Traders no longer believed in permanence. Every deal felt like a ceasefire rather than a settlement.
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June: metals take centre stage again
June marked the reinstatement of a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium, with UK metal imports locked in at 25 per cent. This wasn’t escalation; it was consolidation. The administration had found its favourite pressure point: industrial metals that ripple through automotive, construction, packaging and defence supply chains.
A tentative deal with China was announced on June 11 regarding rare earth mineral exports and U.S. restrictions.
July: the second bout truly begins
If the first half of the year was a storm warning, July was the landfall.
Trump confirmed a US-UK trade deal, announced a separate pact with Vietnam carrying a 20 per cent levy, and then detonated the real bombshell: the United States and the EU reached an agreement that slapped 15 per cent tariffs on most imports from the bloc. It was the first time in decades that the world’s two largest developed trading regions formally accepted a double-digit tariff regime as the new normal.
On Thursday, July 17, the Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade filed a formal petition, citing the surge in imports from Indonesia, Laos, and India intensified following the imposition of steep tariffs of up to 3,500 per cent on solar panels imported from Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
On July 30, 2025, President Trump announced a 25 per cent tariff on all Indian imports, effective from August 1, 2025. This was in addition to an existing 10 per cent baseline tariff and was partially a penalty for India's continued purchase of Russian oil.
By now, more than 70 countries were facing bespoke US tariff schedules, ranging from 10 per cent to above 40 per cent, depending on Washington’s assessment of reciprocity. Additionally, on specific products like pharmaceuticals, tariffs of up to 200 per cent were also announced.
Copper was added to the 50 per cent tariff blanket along with aluminium and steel.
August onward: tariffs as architecture, not accident
The duty-free de minimis exemption for all low-value (under USD 800) shipments was suspended effective August 29, 2025, meaning all such imports became subject to duties and taxes.
A 25 per cent tariff on medium- and heavy-duty trucks and parts, and a 10 per cent tariff on buses, was proposed to take effect on November 1, 2025.
Heavy vehicle and truck tariffs, particularly in the US, involve a 25 per cent ad valorem duty on most imported medium- and heavy-duty trucks (Class 3-8) and their parts, plus a 10 per cent tariff on imported buses, implemented in late 2025 under national security concerns, with specific rules and potential relief under trade agreements like the USMCA.
There were numerous to and fros, updates, additions, retractions among these comparatively broader spectrums.
By the end of 2025, Trump’s second tariff wave had done what years of trade negotiations never could. It fractured global trade into bilateral corridors rather than multilateral highways.
As of January 2026, the sweeping reciprocal tariffs implemented by the US in early 2025 have evolved into a complex landscape of country-specific deals, long-term suspensions, and targeted high-rate duties for certain partners. While a 10 per cent baseline tariff remains active for many nations, several major trade partners have negotiated framework deals to lower or pause these rates.
Some say the tariff game has been all because of the USD 38 trillion debt that the current government wants to tackle without aggravating it any further. The revenue generated from the tariff would enable the government tackle the situation. But it was all wrapped in the cover of promoting domestic manufacturing, protecting national security, and substituting for federal income taxes.
Now that Venezuela’s attack comes to the fore, the propaganda seems clearer. Or is there more to it that the world is yet to know about?
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