Salvador Santino Regilme in Transforming Society: 'Oligarchic Rivalry: US–China Tariffs and the Global Politics of Inequality'
In a new Transforming Society article, Salvador Santino Regilme, Associate Professor and Chair of the International Relations Program at Leiden University, critiques the Trump administration’s US–China tariff war as a covert instrument of domestic class warfare.
While publicly framed as a bold strategy to protect national security and economic sovereignty, Regilme argues that tariffs functioned as a regressive fiscal tool—shifting economic burdens from billionaires onto working- and middle-class Americans.
“Tariffs are a hidden tax on the poor,” he writes, highlighting that instead of targeting offshore wealth, US policy inflated prices on everyday goods.
Regilme warns that tariff-driven nationalism has failed to deliver resilient economies or democratic renewal. Instead, it has deepened fragility at home and alienated key allies. He calls for a recommitment to equitable growth, multilateral cooperation, and democratic governance as the only path to genuine strategic strength.
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Find the full article on the Transforming Society website.