The Tariff Policy of the Trump Administration

Absztrakt

U.S. President Donald Trump began to apply tariffs at an unprecedented scope and scale in 2025. While presidential authority enables the targeted use of trade policy, the Trump administration’s thinking and practice has revealed a broader function of tariffs. The aim of the analysis is to review the Trump administration’s tariff policy, specifically to outline its rationale, i.e. the causes, purposes and functions of tariffs. The article argues that tariffs are not just components of trade policy, but also instruments of foreign policy: through its securitisation efforts, the Trump administration has made trade and security issues more interrelated in American foreign policy. The article highlights this phenomenon through examples in transatlantic relations.