In his first week in office, US President Donald Trump proved to be a man of his word. He continues to implement several of the promises he made on his campaign trail. Whether you like him or not, you must realise that his strongest allies and voters consider him a modern-day saviour sent and protected by God and who, with his bold leadership, will make America great again.

Already, President Trump has signed a litany of executive orders for mass deportations of “illegal immigrants”, halting foreign aid and attempting to eliminate automatic birthright US citizenship for babies born to parents with illegal status, to name a few.

I have been paying keen attention to the daily news feeds in case I miss something. I was waiting to see when he would slap the tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, “promise made, promise kept”. The US Government will impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10 per cent tariff on imports from China on February 1.

While President Trump has campaigned that these tariffs are part of import duties paid by foreign countries in a bid to strong-arm three of America’s major trading partners, the truth is that tariffs are, in fact, paid directly to the federal government by US businesses. Therefore, rather than swallowing the costs, corporations typically increase their prices for those imported goods to recoup all or some of the expenses.

True to form, many Jamaicans are simply focussing on immigration, mass deportations, and remittance flows. These are critical agenda items that will undoubtedly affect us.

However, the imposition of tariffs has been the one on my radar. My concern is the long-term implications of his actions and their impact on us here at home.

Many Jamaicans and Americans don’t fully appreciate that the world has matured to a real-time international trade process. Today, anyone who searches online for suppliers for most products will get responses within 24 hours from 100 potential global suppliers at competitive prices. This integration of world trade was profoundly demonstrated last week when China’s artificial intellgence (AI) app, DeepSeek, crashed Nvidia’s value by nearly US$500 billion or half a trillion in one day.

Chinese producers have figured out how to sell their products at the lowest prices to individual customers worldwide using Temu and Shein, threatening the long-term viability of many retail stores worldwide.

Most Americans don’t understand that China, Canada, and Mexico have inputs in almost everything they consume. They represent over 40 per cent of US imports — oil and gas from Canada, vegetables and fruit from Mexico, and the parts and finished products from China. So if tariffs increase on these products, consumers will have to pay more.

Now that the US has declared a tariff war on China, Mexico, and Canada, there will undoubtedly be retaliation by them against US exports, so no one is really excluded from President Trump’s economic formula for “Making America great again”.

If we learned one thing from the COVID-19 pandemic it is that the laws of economics will always trump the rules of politics. When the quantities of supplies go down, the prices go up.

In Jamaica, the regular price for lettuce before Hurricane Beryl was $200 per pound and after Beryl it went up to $900 per pound.

President Trump acknowledged that tariff costs are sometimes passed along to consumers and said his plans to impose tariffs may cause a short-term disruption and warned the three countries that there was nothing they could do to prevent this from taking effect.

When will this tariff war end or what its long-term impact will be on the World Trade Organisation? No one knows.

Caught up or persecuted?

Our foreign affairs and foreign trade stances will be critical to our cost of living and economic prospects. Recall, in December 2017, the US expressed its intention to reconsider aid to countries that did not recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at the UN; for the first time, Jamaica opted to abstain.

Following this, in February 2018, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Jamaica in what was seen as a potential step towards deeper engagement with Caricom. Jamaica did not extend the invitation to our neighbouring countries.

By January 2019 the Government of Jamaica publicly declared its intention to expropriate shares in PDVSA and supported a US resolution at the Organisation of America States (OAS) not to recognise Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. This was followed by a private meeting in March 2019 between Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness and President Trump at which it was announced that Jamaica would no longer seek loans from China.

In January 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Jamaica, inviting eight of the 15 Caricom nations, excluding Chair Mia Mottley, yet Jamaica participated. These developments show a significant shift in our diplomatic stance, leading to a sense of isolation on the international stage.

Reflecting on our foreign policy during the last Trump Administration it’s essential to examine these actions’ underlying motivations and goals. I could only presume that we aimed to strengthen ties with the US and align with its broader geopolitical objectives. However, our approach inadvertently sidelined neighbouring countries and traditional alliances.

While perhaps intended to showcase courage and commitment, our diplomatic efforts have posed challenges to our long-standing relationships. The most notable concern is how these decisions could have impacted support during critical times, such as vaccine distribution in the region during the recent pandemic. Jamaica was the last country to receive vaccines from our international allies, highlighting the importance of multilateral dialogue and not forging an isolationist posture.

“The Rapture” is a Christian belief that Jesus Christ will come for his church before establishing his kingdom on Earth. It is a specific event in the Bible that involves the resurrection of dead Christians and the gathering of living Christians to meet Jesus in the air to receive new bodies. All non-Christians and Christian imposters who miss this event will be “left behind” on Earth to suffer through what people call “the tribulation” for 7 years of great suffering and persecution as they wait for the second coming of Christ. According to the book of Revelation, people can still be saved during the tribulation.

As we confront another term (the second coming) of President Trump, his character and personality remain steadfast, and even more stringent, having felt he was saved and chosen by God to lead during this time.

Therefore, as Americans enter a head-to-head trade war with the world, global prices for everything will rise. Jamaicans will not be spared this tribulation. Consequently, it is crucial to reassess our foreign policy strategies to ensure that they foster collaboration and maintain our reputation for principled diplomacy. Let us not be picked off again. This time, we must engage more with our neighbours and revisit our approach. We can enhance Jamaica’s global standing while strengthening our regional ties.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness must be proactive. Our representative in Washington, DC, must also be respected and get the Administration’s attention as a formidable expert with advanced negotiating skills, which appears to be sadly lacking at the moment. If we fail, this time we will have no salvation.

Lisa Hanna is Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, People’s National Party spokesperson on foreign affairs and foreign trade, and a former Cabinet member.