This is the second time in ten days that President Trump has threatened the member countries of BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – with 10 per cent tariffs.

The Trump administration is imposing a substantial tariff on a raw material that is critical for electric vehicle batteries, which could significantly raise the cost of building EVs in the United States.

Long before President Trump wielded tariffs as a weapon to punish Indonesia, the country was fighting back a flood of cheap Chinese goods.

Trump has rolled back many of his steepest tariffs over recent months, including a sky-high levy on China, the top source of U.S. imports. In recent days, however, Trump announced plans to slap tariffs as high as 50% on dozens of countries, including 25% tariffs on top U.S. trade partners such as Japan and South Korea.

The U.S. can either spend taxpayer money to help U.S. businesses export to the world (subsidies) or it can collect taxes so that it has more money to spend (tariffs).

"Other trading partners observing these threats will have the same mistrust of the negotiation process," experts argue.

Financial news has been breaking fast and furious, thanks to President Trump. Over the past week, he has: Escalated threats of sharply higher tariffs on major trading partners that don’t cut trade deals with him by the end of the month.

China warned the Trump administration on Tuesday against reigniting trade tension by restoring tariffs on its goods next month, and threatened to retaliate against nations that strike deals with the United States to cut China out of supply chains.