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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

Trump tariffs are reshaping old alliances as the global south plots its own path

an aerial view of shipping containers at a port
The port of Santos in São Paulo, Brazil, on 17 July 2025. Photograph: Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

As nations in the global south intensify their discussions on how to respond to Donald Trump’s trade war, the early 20th-century British advocate of tariffs Joseph Chamberlain may hold some lessons.

Like Trump, Chamberlain viewed tariffs as a cure-all and believed Imperial Preference – the system of preferential rates with the British Empire – could not only advance national self-interest but act as glue binding the British colonial alliance together.

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