President Donald Trump’s proposal for a joint US-EU tariff wall against India and China threatens to cleave the global economy along a new fault line. If implemented, the move would pit a Western economic bloc against an emerging Eurasian one, potentially ending decades of increasing globalization and ushering in an era of fractured trade.
The plan calls for 100% tariffs on two of the world’s largest economies, a move of unprecedented scale. Its stated purpose is geopolitical—to end the war in Ukraine by isolating Russia—but its economic consequences would be monumental, forcing nations to choose sides and reorienting global supply chains.
The administration has made European participation a key condition, seeking to ensure the Western bloc is united and powerful. A White House official confirmed the US will only proceed if “our European partners step up with us,” effectively asking the EU to help draw this new global economic line.
This vision of a divided world economy is being pursued even as the legal authority for it is being questioned. The US Supreme Court is set to rule on Trump’s tariff powers, a decision that will either empower this world-cleaving strategy or deal it a fatal blow, forcing the administration to refund billions and reconsider its entire approach.