In his first week in office, President Donald Trump tried to browbeat governments across the world into ending the flow of drugs into America, accepting planes full of deported migrants, halting wars and ceding territory to the United States.
For all of them, he deployed a common threat: Countries that did not meet his demands would face stiff tariffs on products they send to U.S. consumers.
Trump has long wielded tariffs as a weapon to resolve trade concerns. But the president is now frequently using them to make gains on issues that have little to do with trade.
It is a strategy rarely seen from other presidents, and never at this frequency. While Trump threatened governments like Mexico’s with tariffs over immigration issues in his first term, he now appears to be making such threats almost daily, including Sunday, when he said Colombia would face tariffs after its government turned back planes carrying deported immigrants.
“The willingness rhetorically to throw the kitchen sink and use the whole tool kit is trying to send the message to other countries beyond Colombia that they should comply and find ways to address these border concerns,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.