Is Donald Trump Solving a Crisis—Or Stoking a New One With Tariffs?

Markets seem to be rejoicing over former President Donald Trump partly solving a crisis—one that he himself had engineered. While average U.S. tariffs are still estimated to have risen significantly (from around 3% to 20% by some accounts), the world appears to be celebrating a return from the extreme highs, conveniently forgetting where it all began.

This turn of events took me back over two decades to a strategy report by First Global, published in 2003. At the time, another Republican president, George W. Bush, had just wrapped up a war that many believed he had needlessly started.

Also Read: Trump Halts Tariffs for All Countries Except China: All you need to know | Republic World

But before we go deeper, here’s a story I had quoted back then—still as relevant today,

“Once in a small town, there lived a man with his wife and nine kids. Now, nine kids may not seem like a lot, but when you're crammed into a 10ft x 10ft room, it can feel overwhelming. The man, exhausted and despairing, was on the brink of collapse when he heard about a saint passing through town—someone said to solve all problems.

He approached the saint, poured out his woes, and the saint calmly advised: ‘Go buy a big, old, shaggy nanny goat and live with it in your room for a month. Then come back.’”

It’s one of the best analogies for how we perceive and react to problems in our lives. Over the years, I’ve thought about that story countless times.

Take this for instance: You might complain daily about office politics or a difficult boss. But the minute you lose that job, that becomes the only thing that keeps you up at night. And when you find a new one, it suddenly feels like life couldn’t be better.

Or consider how minor everyday troubles seem monumental—until a health scare hits you or someone close. In the aftermath, everything else seems trivial, and just being okay feels like a blessing.

Trump’s playbook is a classic case of creating a problem, then trying to take credit for partly solving it—making people feel relieved and even grateful. In this case, tariffs were ramped up dramatically, creating global trade anxiety. And now that they've only partially come down, the world is clapping.

Instead of asking why the tariffs are still much higher than before, we’re thankful they’re not as high as they recently were.

Written by Devina Mehra, Founder & CMD, First Global

It’s a masterclass in how the human mind can be manipulated.