Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
With Trump announcing sweeping tariffs on imports—including a baseline 10% on all imports and significantly higher rates on goods from countries like China (34%) and the European Union (20%)—, economist Ann Pettifor—renowned for her work on global finance and sovereign debt—explains why these measures won’t fix the real problem. While Trump promises to protect American workers by blocking foreign imports, he ignores the overvalued dollar and the unchecked power of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. The result? A distorted global trading system that won’t bring jobs back but will deepen economic instability.
Pettifor highlights how China, facing similar internal inequalities, will simply divert its exports elsewhere—to Europe, Latin America, or Africa—creating ripple effects far beyond U.S. borders. Counter-tariffs will escalate tensions worldwide, heightening the risk of political conflict. History shows that trade wars don’t just hurt economies; they fuel real wars. If leaders fail to address the root causes of economic distress, today’s tariff battle could set the stage for something far more dangerous.
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Support our work: tni.org/en/support-tni
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With Trump announcing sweeping tariffs on imports—including a baseline 10% on all imports and significantly higher rates on goods from countries like China (34%) and the European Union (20%)—, economist Ann Pettifor—renowned for her work on global finance and sovereign debt—explains why these measures won’t fix the real problem. While Trump promises to protect American workers by blocking foreign imports, he ignores the overvalued dollar and the unchecked power of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. The result? A distorted global trading system that won’t bring jobs back but will deepen economic instability.
Pettifor highlights how China, facing similar internal inequalities, will simply divert its exports elsewhere—to Europe, Latin America, or Africa—creating ripple effects far beyond U.S. borders. Counter-tariffs will escalate tensions worldwide, heightening the risk of political conflict. History shows that trade wars don’t just hurt economies; they fuel real wars. If leaders fail to address the root causes of economic distress, today’s tariff battle could set the stage for something far more dangerous.
Visit our website: tni.org
Support our work: tni.org/en/support-tni
Sign up for our newsletter: tni.org/en/subscribe
![Short documentary: Barcelonas residents fight for public water management [es & eng]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/W5-JfwqUnsQ/mqdefault.jpg "Short documentary: Barcelonas residents fight for public water management [es & eng]
Presented at the Future is Public conference 2019: https://futureispublic.org/
We are living in a crucial moment. Cities are on the front lines of today’s most urgent challenges, including fighting climate change and rising inequality, as well as the need to support refugees and provide universal access to public services that are human rights including housing, drinking water and sanitation services, energy, health care and education. These global problems call for public solutions.
A growing network of progressive, green municipalities is developing strategies to tackle these and many other critical issues. Cities are well positioned to explore direct democracy, and advance innovative economic models that build community wealth and create decent jobs. At the same time, we need a national level of coordination and ambition to reverse market fundamentalism, which is the root cause of our collective economic and social crises. Profit-driven, market-based policies led to the privatisation of our public services and to the denigration of solidarity and public service.
This video gives an insight into Barcelonas residents struggle for the remunicipalization of the citys water. Find out more: https://futureispublic.org/")
![Short documentary: Barcelonas water business scam/Lestafa del negoci de laigua [es & eng]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YXfm6J0jl44/mqdefault.jpg "Short documentary: Barcelonas water business scam/Lestafa del negoci de laigua [es & eng]
Presented at the Future is Public conference 2019: https://futureispublic.org/
We are living in a crucial moment. Cities are on the front lines of today’s most urgent challenges, including fighting climate change and rising inequality, as well as the need to support refugees and provide universal access to public services that are human rights including housing, drinking water and sanitation services, energy, health care and education. These global problems call for public solutions.
A growing network of progressive, green municipalities is developing strategies to tackle these and many other critical issues. Cities are well positioned to explore direct democracy, and advance innovative economic models that build community wealth and create decent jobs. At the same time, we need a national level of coordination and ambition to reverse market fundamentalism, which is the root cause of our collective economic and social crises. Profit-driven, market-based policies led to the privatisation of our public services and to the denigration of solidarity and public service.
This video explains Barcelonas water business scam. Find more information here: https://futureispublic.org/")
