Date: August 1, 2025
Time: 3:48 PM CT
Once again, Donald Trump is swinging a hammer where a scalpel is needed.
According to a new report, Trump has announced a sweeping new tariff strategy designed to punish countries that don’t fall in line with his political and economic agenda. But make no mistake—this isn’t about economic justice. It’s about power, pressure, and political gamesmanship that hurts real Americans.
Tariffs aren’t new. But using them as a blunt-force weapon—threatening nations with economic pain unless they comply with U.S. demands—isn’t smart trade policy. It’s authoritarian coercion dressed up in a suit. It mirrors the same tactics used by oppressive regimes across the world.
And once again, it’s rural Americans—especially Missouri farmers—who will feel the blowback first. When Trump first started his trade wars, soybean prices collapsed, export markets dried up, and small farms suffered while foreign nations retaliated with tariffs of their own.
Now we’re looking at more of the same. And this time, he’s making it even more personal—tying tariffs to whether countries “align with the United States on national security matters.” That’s not economics. That’s blackmail.
This is how authoritarians operate. They wield economic pain as a weapon against both allies and enemies. It’s not diplomacy. It’s not leadership. And it certainly isn’t putting American workers, businesses, or farmers first.
We need leaders who will fight for fair trade—not fear-based trade. We need policies that uplift rural communities, not drive them deeper into uncertainty. And we need to call this what it is: economic intimidation that damages America’s credibility around the world.
I’m Ricky Dana, Candidate for U.S. House in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District, and I believe Missouri deserves better.
Sources:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/news/content/ar-AA1JFODa?ocid=sapphireappshare
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tariffs-economy-of-obedience
https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/trumps-tariff-war-economic-coercion
https://www.vox.com/politics/407053/trump-tariff-expensive-democracy
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-trumps-tariffs-fit-the-autocrats-playbook
https://www.csis.org/analysis/how-us-tariffs-allies-undermines-economic-statecraft
https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-eu-could-respond-to-trumps-tariffs