Maverick President is betting big on clinching trade deals within next two months
By T N Ashok
NEW YORK: US President Donald J Trump completed 180 days in his 2nd presidency on Sunday that was marked by a high-octane governance full of confrontations, chaos, and calculated populism. Trump is barrelling into his seventh month in office with the throttle wide open—and the brakes seemingly off.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s Sunday remarks promised a “record-breaking” fortnight ahead as Trump’s White House pushes for last-minute tariff deals with over two dozen trade partners. But beneath the noise of impending mega-deals and tariff threats lies a swirling mix of global tensions, unfinished diplomacy, immigration crackdowns, citizenship upheavals, and a crypto-fuelled shadow economy that increasingly defines the Trump Doctrine 2.0.
Trump has fired off formal tariff threats to 25 countries marking this week, including top trading allies like Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. Come August 1, steep new tariffs—ranging from 10% for smaller economies to a punishing 35% for larger players—will take effect unless they capitulate to U.S. demands.
The 27-nation EU block which accounts for near $ one trillion trade is defying solution and a mega beautiful trade deal with India is still elusive as that country is driving a hard bargain on agricultural imports from U.S., while willing to concede lower tariffs on a variety of goods from America including automobiles, whiskey and some manufactured goods on a lower tariff base.
“The next two weeks will be for the record books,” Commerce Secretary Lutnick declared on Face the Nation, echoing the administration’s belief that pressure equals progress. The message? Comply or pay.
At the heart of this strategy lies a high-stakes standoff with the EU. Last year alone, trade between the U.S. and the 27-nation bloc crossed $975 billion. Trump has now threatened to slap a 30% tariff on European exports if a deal isn’t struck, escalating from April’s already controversial 20% hike. That means a whopping 50% tariffs totally unacceptable to EU.
Brussels has responded in kind, warning of retaliatory tariffs targeting American agriculture, tech, and autos—effectively reviving fears of a 21st-century transatlantic trade war.
Meanwhile, Mexico and Canada—still reeling from the fentanyl crisis accusations and Trump’s immigration-linked tariff policies—face their own ultimatums. Starting next month, tariffs on their exports to the U.S. will spike to 30% and 35%, respectively, from the 1st batch of 25% announced , unless new agreements are finalized. Trump has tied their compliance not just to trade, but to drug interdiction and border enforcement—an audacious linkage of commerce to crime fighting.
Despite skepticism from the international press and even within U.S. industry, Lutnick insists the Trump approach is paying off. “They’re coming to the table,” he said Sunday. “They’ll open their markets, or they’ll pay.”
India, one of Trump’s marquee trade targets during his campaign, remains a diplomatic Rubik’s Cube. While Trump announced in April the framework for what he called a “big beautiful trade deal” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, little has been finalized. Behind the scenes, thorny issues remain: tariffs on U.S. dairy and medical devices, e-commerce restrictions, digital data localization, and disputes over defense offsets.
Trump famously called his 2nd buddy Modi “tough but fair,” but, White House sources suggest frustration is growing. With some states elections looming in India in 2026, New Delhi is wary of appearing overly compliant to Washington’s muscle-flexing. That said, backdoor crypto cooperation—especially regarding American blockchain firms operating in India—has seen quiet progress.
Arguably the most bizarre yet effective fundraising mechanism in modern American politics, Trump’s re-election campaign and MAGA media empire have been boosted by the unofficial “TrumpCoin”—a meme-based cryptocurrency surging among his supporters and alt-finance fans.
While not formally endorsed, TrumpCoin has become de facto campaign cash, accepted at MAGA rallies, stores, and even some conservative media paywalls. More controversially, insiders allege that Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Eric, are leveraging offshore partnerships—particularly through Dubai-based World Liberty Financial and its Abu Dhabi-linked promoters—to float crypto assets with limited oversight.
A $2 billion deal has been clinched with Abu Dhabi financiers that endorses Trumps meme USD1 in an exchange called binance for trading.
Critics cry foul, accusing the administration of blurring public service with profit. Supporters shrug it off as just smart branding. Either way, crypto is now a central pillar of the Trump ecosystem—and a potential ethics minefield.
In one of the most dramatic shifts since January, Trump has launched what civil rights advocates call the “citizenship purge.”
Executive orders have curtailed birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants—an initiative first teased in 2019 but now in full effect. Simultaneously, a new Denaturalization Task Force under DHS has begun reviewing over 150,000 naturalization cases for potential fraud. On record some 700,000 immigration files leading to citizenship are being reviewed under a magnifying lens with an intent to denaturalise as many as possible.
This has made some 20 million naturalised citizens in recent years edgy, nervous and fearing the axe with threats of deportation even if they had made clerical errors such as spellings in names or hid their past with regard to even minor offences at the time of their application.
Already, hundreds of cases have been filed in federal courts, triggering panic among immigrant communities, especially in swing states like Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada.
ICE raids have returned to their early-Trump-era intensity, with televised deportation operations in Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles gaining MAGA approval but sparking nationwide protests. In one viral video, a Chicago father of three—naturalized in 2008—was detained over a decade-old tax discrepancy flagged by DHS’s revamped citizenship review algorithm.
Little bothered about the Chicago’s father predicament, Trump, posted on Truth Social: “If you lied to get here, you don’t get to stay. Simple.”
While Trump presses forward with trade deals and nationalistic policy triumphs, the re-emergence of the Jeffrey Epstein files has darkened the media landscape. A federal judge is reviewing a DOJ motion to unseal grand jury transcripts—potentially revealing names, travel logs, and communications between Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and elite figures, including ex-presidents and billionaires.
Trump, whose name appears in several sealed documents (including a now-leaked birthday message allegedly sent to Epstein), denies all wrongdoing and has filed a $10 billion libel lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit accuses the paper of “malicious fabrication” and demands the court block future reporting related to Epstein unless cleared by a federal review board—an unprecedented ask.
“This is the Deep State’s last gasp,” Trump said at a rally in Tampa, waving a manila folder labelled THE BIG, BEAUTIFUL FILE. “They tried Russia. They tried impeachment. Now it’s this.”
Despite a loyal MAGA base that roars at every rally, signs of fatigue are emerging. Crypto scams, rising grocery prices from tariff fallout, and the unrelenting focus on vengeance politics are beginning to alienate suburban independents.
In private polling shared with CBS, 37% of Trump 2020 voters say they are “less likely” to vote for him in 2026 midterm unless economic conditions improve. Some cite deportation overreach. Others point to the messy fallout from the EU trade brinkmanship, which has hurt mid-western exporters and wine importers alike. American farmers in the south and mid west sit on wire hoping for a fruitful and successful outcome that is beneficial to them.
Yet Trump thrives in chaos—and may even be counting on it.
In the coming two weeks, the world will watch whether Trump can seal headline-grabbing trade wins or whether the retaliatory spiral deepens. Canada and Mexico remain tentative. Europe is furious. India plays chess while Trump punches.
At home, expect more denaturalization cases, intensified deportations, and further cryptic leaks about the Epstein files. And with Trump promising to unveil “the most important executive order in American history” by August 15—rumored to involve AI surveillance and election security—the chaos of the presidency is far from cooling.
Six months in, Trump isn’t just rewriting the playbook. He’s tearing it up, line by line—and daring the world to blink. (IPA Service)
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