The liberation day tariffs were definitely something. The tariff numbers themselves were chosen explicitly in reference to trade deficits. Trade deficits are an

The liberation day tariffs were definitely something. The tariff numbers themselves were chosen explicitly in reference to trade deficits. Trade deficits are an exact measurement of the strength of the US dollar as a reserve currency. Reducing trade deficits to zero is exactly ending the dollar as a reserve currency since it implies that no country has dollars in reserve. There is a stated a goal of this ruling regime to return to the gold standard. So who was being liberated? From what I could tell it was authoritarian countries from the consequences of the sanctions framework provided by SWIFT and trade predominately occurring via the dollar. Rogoff explicitly states that the dollar as reserve currency has incredible intelligence value and allowed for us to impose sanctions on other countries. The number of ways to interpret liberation day in a dystopian way are large, and I can't really think of any American entity that directly benefits from liberation day "liberation" except potentially unskilled American labor who might be free to work sweatshop jobs that get re-homed, if they aren't automated or don't just disappear entirely.