"President Trump has shown tariffs are a means by which he can successfully extract negotiating leverage —and revenue— from trading partners"
Stephen Miran (Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers since March 2025) Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System
To understand what Trump is doing, this is the starting point:
1) Trump and his top advisor see tariffs as a source of revenue and
2) a tool, "a means", to pressure a negotiation: "extract negotiation leverage", and
3) the big very big issue of the negotiation would be about Debt Restructuring:
- You (China, Japan, Korea, Singapur) manufacture something and sell it to me, I pay you with a green piece of paper fresh off the printing press, and you use the green piece of paper to buy my Debt maturing in 2-5-10-30 years.
Well
- Now we'll do it this way: for the enormous privilege of receiving green pieces of paper in exchange for your work, You (China, Japan, Korea, Singapur) wil buy (drum roll) nice beuuutiful 100-year "century bond" or 1,000-year debt from me: "Perpetual" Debt.
"Century bond" and "Perpetual" are the expression used in this document
"The U.S. is not likely to sit idly by while China drags out negotiations, so tariffs will likely be imposed to create urgency for any such talks. This is likely still a case of tariffs first, then a deal, because the deal requires some pressure to take form" (Stephen Miran)
