By Qamar Bashir
Former MD, SRBC | Macomb, Michigan, USAThe tariff regime that was sold to the American public as a bold attempt to restore national greatness is now revealing its deeper, more painful underside. What began as a political project aimed at resetting global trade dynamics and reasserting American strength has gradually transformed into an economic and institutional suffocation whose aftershocks are being felt across farms, universities, industries, and households alike. The rhetoric of “billions and billions” pouring into the U.S. Treasury from tariffs created an illusion of financial abundance, but reality has unfolded in the opposite direction: a shrinking export base, collapsing agricultural markets, rising consumer prices, weakened research ecosystems, and a fraying social and political fabric within the United States.
The hardest hit have been American farmers. For decades, agriculture functioned as one of the strongest pillars of the U.S. export economy, supplying China, East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East with soybeans, wheat, corn, cotton, dairy, and specialty crops. When tariffs escalated and retaliation began, China—America’s most important buyer—swiftly diverted its purchases to Brazil, Argentina, Russia, and even emerging African producers. Billions of dollars in annual exports vanished almost overnight. The loss of the Chinese soybean market alone, once valued at over $24 billion a year, crippled thousands of farms.
Producers who had already been struggling with rising input costs now found themselves with no buyers, plunging commodity prices, and mounting debt. Many depended on emergency federal bailout packages that provided temporary lifelines but no long-term solutions. Others simply quit farming altogether. Rural counties saw rising suicide rates, deepening despair, and a sense of betrayal that no amount of political spin could conceal.
What is most tragic is that the tariff policy ended up strengthening the very country it was designed to restrain. China responded not with panic but with acceleration: it diversified its commodity suppliers, expanded domestic agricultural production, invested in storage infrastructure, and built strategic reserves that permanently reduced its reliance on American crops. In effect, the U.S. handed China the incentive to free itself from dependence on American agriculture. While American farmers waited nervously for markets to return, China moved on. By the time Washington realized the scale of the miscalculation, it was too late; the markets had shifted permanently. Thus, the tariff regime did not weaken China’s agricultural leverage—it expanded it—while gutting America’s strongest export advantage.
But economic damage is only one part of the story. The tariff framework produced a chain reaction that reached into the heart of American research institutions. As international students reconsidered the United States due to geopolitical rancor, visa restrictions, campus surveillance, and rising tuition, universities—long dependent on global talent—began experiencing declines in enrollment, particularly in engineering, computer science, biotechnology, and advanced research fields.
For decades, American innovation was powered by an academic ecosystem that welcomed gifted minds from every corner of the world. It was through this heterogeneity of ideas and cultures that U.S. laboratories developed breakthrough technologies, from semiconductors to mRNA vaccines to artificial intelligence systems. The tariff era created an atmosphere of suspicion that made foreign researchers feel scrutinized, monitored, or unwelcome. Many redirected their careers to Canada, Europe, Australia, and especially China, where large, well-funded research parks actively recruited them.
Compounding these pressures were the political interventions that accused universities of antisemitism and insufficient action against pro-Palestinian protests. Instead of addressing the concerns of students calling attention to real humanitarian crises, some policymakers used the moment to justify intrusive investigations, funding threats, and speech restrictions.
This not only jeopardized academic freedom—one of the foundations of American intellectual leadership—but also discouraged foreign students, particularly from Muslim-majority countries, from pursuing studies in the U.S. The result is a weakening of the very institutions that have historically given America its competitive edge. When research stalls, when laboratories lose staff, when grants dry up, and when campuses spend more time navigating political minefields than conducting scientific inquiry, the country loses its innovative momentum, and rivals gain ground.
The tariff regime further disrupted the industrial and consumer sectors. Import restrictions and retaliatory tariffs led to higher prices for machinery, electronics, household essentials, and raw materials. Manufacturing industries that relied on global supply chains suddenly faced shortages and rising costs. Plants scaled back production, delayed expansion plans, or relocated overseas to avoid tariff pressures. American consumers, already stretched by high living costs, found themselves paying more for everyday necessities—from groceries and clothing to appliances and building materials. Inflationary pressure, once dismissed as temporary, became a long-term burden driven by fractured supply chains and reduced imports.
This domestic squeeze unfolded alongside a geopolitical realignment that placed the United States at a disadvantage. As Washington doubled down on tariffs, other nations strengthened their trade agreements, built regional blocs, and opened markets among themselves. China expanded its Belt and Road partnerships, deepened trade ties in Africa and Latin America, and secured long-term access to critical minerals.
The European Union pursued trade diversification, reducing dependence on American markets. Even countries once firmly aligned with the United States began exploring alternative economic relationships. The ideological posture of tariff nationalism not only isolated America economically—it weakened its diplomatic influence. A nation that once championed open markets, free exchange, and research collaboration became a symbol of restriction, confrontation, and inward retreat.
Perhaps the most significant long-term consequence is the erosion of America’s claim to global leadership in science, technology, and higher education. Leadership in the twenty-first century depends not only on military power or financial clout, but on talent attraction, innovation, and the ability to shape the next frontier of discovery. When universities are politically constrained, when international scholars turn away, when research funding declines, and when laboratories lose their brightest minds, the country falls behind. China, meanwhile, has been investing billions into artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, space exploration, and quantum research. As American campuses grapple with political controversies and financial shortages, China accelerates toward technological supremacy.
It is a painful irony that a policy intended to revive American greatness has instead hindered many of the nation’s greatest strengths. The tariff regime weakened agricultural power, strained consumers, disrupted industry, diminished university vitality, discouraged global talent, and compromised future research breakthroughs. Instead of elevating America, it created new obstacles that will take years to undo.
Reversing course is not simply a matter of lifting tariffs; it requires rebuilding trust with global partners, restoring market access for farmers, revitalizing universities, protecting academic freedom, and reopening the doors to foreign students and researchers who have long contributed to America’s intellectual legacy. It means reaffirming the values that once made the United States the world’s magnet for talent and innovation. Only then can the country reclaim its leadership role and repair the damage left by a tariff experiment that cost far more than it delivered.
Press Secretary to the President (Rtd)
Former Press Minister, Embassy of Pakistan to France
Former Press Attaché to Malaysia
