Friendship For Sale: Trump's Trade War and Clown Economics

Donald Trump’s desperate attempt to brand himself as a man of peace is a shameless, transparent lie—drenched in the excesses of hypocrisy and bloated with the arrogance of empire. Far from ending wars, Trump is fuelling them—bankrolling foreign conflicts while waging economic warfare on allies.

His latest crusade? Trade wars—launched not out of necessity, but out of spite. While he defines his tariff policy as the start of America’s “Golden Age,” the world sees it as the “Golden Rage.”

Blaming others for the US running a deficit—because it imports more than it exports—and asserting that other countries have been ‘ripping the US off’ is comically deranged. That’s Trump, and that’s the destruction of the American economy that US citizens are about to experience.

This is Trump’s ‘Clown Economics.’

His decision to slam Australia—along with many other countries—with a blunt-force tariff sledgehammer is a declaration of economic war doing more harm to Americans and US relationships than to the nations it targets.

But Trump’s bizarre tariff policy has done more than disrupt trade—particularly with Australia—it has betrayed a relationship forged through generations of mutual sacrifice, loyalty, and trust. His decision to impose a 10% tariff on all Australian imports marks a dangerous escalation in an isolationist and erratic economic agenda, positioning America not as a global leader, but as a hostile actor—even to its closest allies.

For a country like Australia, which has stood shoulder to shoulder with the US in every major conflict of the past century and rarely questioned Washington’s global leadership, this move feels less like policy and more like punishment. It’s a cold, transactional blow that threatens to unravel one of the world’s most stable and significant alliances.

The US-Australia alliance has been one of the most enduring bilateral partnerships in modern history. Cemented through the ANZUS Treaty in 1951, both countries have maintained close military, intelligence, and trade cooperation. Australian forces have fought alongside American troops in every major conflict since World War I, and Australia has consistently supported US-led initiatives, often at significant political and economic cost.

Even when faced with historical betrayal, Australia did not walk away from the alliance. The most striking example remains the 1975 dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam—a scandal that involved covert interference by the CIA. Whitlam had threatened to close US intelligence bases in Australia, including Pine Gap, and sought an independent foreign policy.

The abrupt and controversial sacking of the Whitlam government—engineered through the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, and reportedly encouraged by US interests—triggered one of the gravest constitutional crises in Australian history. Yet despite what many view as a US-backed coup that overthrew a democratically elected government, successive Australian governments remained loyal to the alliance, prioritising long-term cooperation over retaliation.

That loyalty has never been blind. It has been deliberate, pragmatic, and anchored in the belief that the US valued its friends—not just when convenient, but when it mattered. Trump's decision has thrown that belief into serious doubt.

The decision to impose tariffs on Australian goods, under the guise of protecting American industry, has sparked outrage across the political spectrum. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese slammed the move as “unjustified” and “not the act of a friend.” He confirmed Australia would not retaliate with tariffs of its own—an attempt to de-escalate tensions and preserve the diplomatic dignity that has long defined the alliance.

Economists estimate the tariffs could wipe $27 billion from the Australian economy, shrinking GDP by as much as 1%. Key export industries—particularly beef, wine, and rare earth minerals—are bracing for immediate disruption. This isn’t just bad economics—it’s bad faith. The US is penalising a nation that has never wavered in its loyalty.

The tariffs send a chilling message to US allies around the world: loyalty offers no protection from Trump’s weaponised economic nationalism. This unilateral act of aggression undermines the rules-based order the US claims to champion and signals to other countries they could be next.

Australia, which has already begun diversifying its trade portfolio through strengthened ties with Asia and Europe, may now accelerate its shift away from reliance on the US. As Foreign Minister Penny Wong noted, “Strong partnerships are built on mutual respect and shared values. If those values are no longer honoured, we must reconsider how we define our strategic priorities.”

Washington’s volatility under Trump is eroding the very alliances that have historically underpinned global stability and cooperation.

In Australia, the tariffs have ignited political debate. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused the Albanese government of failing to anticipate the Trump administration’s pivot and called for a full review of Australia’s trade defence mechanisms. Business groups have demanded urgent federal assistance to mitigate the impact of the tariffs.

Dutton’ accusations of Albanese failure to predict Trump’s actions not only smack of political opportunism but a level of ignorance and immaturity by the Opposition Leader that are ridiculous. No other world leader his able to predict Trump’s erratic behaviour, and Albanese is not Uri Geller.

Responding to the calls by Business Groups, the government has launched a $1 billion Economic Resilience Programme to help affected industries diversify and secure new markets.

Australia’s loyalty to the US can’t be measured by trade balances or military deployments alone. It’s rooted in democratic solidarity, mutual commitment to peace, and belief in a global order built on cooperation—not coercion. Trump’s tariffs violate that compact. They reduce friendship to transaction and turn diplomacy into a game of leverage.

This isn’t a dispute over steel or wine. It’s a rupture in the moral fabric of the alliance.

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating—both recently and more than 30 years ago—has long argued that Australia must deepen ties with regional partners, strengthen its role in the Indo-Pacific, and reassess the cost-benefit equation of an alliance with an increasingly unpredictable US.

The imposition of tariffs by a supposed friend—on a partner that has stood by the US even in moments of moral and historical controversy—is more than an economic move. It’s an insult. A betrayal. A mockery of friendship.