Trump’s Executive Orders, China, and the Global South

Trump is imposing steep tariffs on major US trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, with a lower rate on Canadian energy imports, said the White House on February 1, 2025. Washington will impose a 25 percent levy on imports from Canada and Mexico, with a 10 percent rate on Canadian energy resources, until both work with the United States on drug trafficking and immigration. Goods from China, said the White House, would face 10 percent tariffs.
US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo: Jim WATSON / POOL / AFP)

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a raft of executive orders on his first day in office that will significantly shift the United States’s relationship with the developing world.

The orders, while framed as promoting the interests of the U.S. voters, will likely also limit U.S. global influence in key decision-making bodies. This will also open space for competing coordination mechanisms like China’s Global Development Initiative.

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by Cobus van Staden

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