(A poetic commentary on global commerce, political ego, and economic fallout)
In the land of stars and eagle’s pride,
A tycoon rose with a thunderous stride.
From boardroom blaze to White House gate,
He promised he’d reshape the fate.
“America First!” the battle cry—
But trade winds shifted in the sky.
He drew a line upon the sand,
With tariffs clenched in iron hand.
Steel and aluminum took the hit,
“Unfair trade,” he’d often spit.
China, Europe, Canada too,
All soon felt the tariff brew.
The dragon stirred in eastern flame,
China would not play the game.
Soybeans spoiled, tech delayed,
In tit-for-tat the price was paid.
Goods once flowed in silent grace,
Now caught in loops of red-taped lace.
Markets trembled, stocks would slide,
Behind the scenes, both truth and pride.
Farmers wept in Midwest lands,
With fallow fields and empty hands.
Walmart shelves a bit more bare,
The cost of clothes a bit less fair.
Ally or foe—it mattered less,
Trump’s war did more than just impress.
NAFTA torn and sewn anew,
A deal reshaped, a tighter screw.
Europe scoffed but felt the sting,
While Merkel braced for another swing.
The WTO cried foul and flinch,
Global rules began to pinch.
Negotiations cold and strained,
Decades of progress now unchained.
A deal once made in handshake charm
Now came with threat, with tweet, with harm.
The East grew closer, trade more tight,
As nations turned away in fright.
Old foes found friends in policy,
While Washington claimed prophecy.
“Unbalanced trade!” the tweet would say,
Yet chaos rose with each new day.
The rust belt cheered, for just a while,
Till factories closed with muted smile.
Jobs didn’t boom as once was told,
But politics spun threads of gold.
A trade imbalance not so cured,
But power plays were well endured.
South of the border, tensions grew,
Tariffs threatened Mexico too.
Over avocados, cars, and oil,
The global pot began to boil.
Japan and India held their line,
Retaliation not far behind.
And yet within the storm of trade,
New deals were signed, new roles were played.
Some praised the art, the renegade,
The man who caused the world to wade
Through tides of tariffs, tweets, and pain,
To prove that might could rule again.
But time reveals what tweets conceal,
The deeper wounds that never heal.
Economic scars take years to fade,
And trust once burned can’t be remade.
The world still spins in global mesh,
Yet echoes of that war stay fresh.
So history shall mark the day,
When tariffs led the world astray.
Not bullets, bombs, or marching boots—
But taxes on imported fruits.
And goods and dreams and old champagne,
All caught up in a tariff chain.
Donald Trump, with dealmaker’s grin,
Claimed trade wars easy, poised to win.
Yet victory’s price is never free,
When tangled in economy.
A lesson cast in global strife—
That power must not dull the knife.
