US President Donald Trump uses tariffs as tools of extortion, pressuring trade partners for investment commitments that serve his political and economic interests. This approach supplants market competition, leading to inevitable severe distortions in global commerce.

<p>US President Donald Trump has turned tariffs into instruments of extortion, pressuring trading partners into investment commitments that advance his political and economic interests. Once political favoritism supplants market competition as the organizing principle of global commerce, severe distortions are inevitable.</p>