Equilibrism in the Face of Donald Trump's Economic War: A Reading Between Tension and Discernment
Equilibrism in the Face of Donald Trump's Economic War: A
Reading Between Tension and Discernment
There
are wars that we don't immediately see. They don't make the sound of bombs, or
of bodies thrown at the world's borders. They are wars of numbers, of taxes, of
broken treaties, of incendiary tweets launched like bullets. Under Donald
Trump's presidency, the United States initiated what history may call a global
"economic war"—not new in its nature, but intensified, dramatized,
and overt.
And I,
as a philosopher of equilibrism, cannot help but observe this strategy as a
symptom, a sign of our times. Equilibrism are not an ideology, but an art: the
art of balancing between extremes, without being reduced to lukewarmness. They
seek neither absolute peace nor pure confrontation. They seek clarity in
complexity.
Under
Trump, the United States imposed punitive tariffs, challenged multilateral
agreements (such as NAFTA and the WTO), and targeted China as a major economic
adversary. This wasn't simply a trade strategy: it was a symbolic act of
sovereignty, a brutal reassertion of power. The slogan "America
First" wasn't just an economic strategy; it was a philosophy of active
isolation, of performative protectionism, a way of telling the world: I am
sufficient, I will defend myself, I will reinvent myself against you.
The equilibrician
looks at this and sees both a truth and a trap.
The
truth: any system out of balance calls for corrective tension. The global
economy, excessively globalized, had produced its own injustices: massive
offshoring, strategic dependencies, the deindustrialization of the middle
classes. There was a wound, and Trump, in his harsh way, pointed it out.
But
the trap is believing that balance can be restored through aggression. Blind
protectionism is a pendulum that swings too far. It doesn't heal: it fractures.
It transforms partners into enemies, and the complexity of global trade into a
fiction of good guys versus bad guys.
Equilibrism,
on the other hand, offers another stance: recognizing systemic tensions without
falling into reaction. Acting, yes—but with discernment. Reducing strategic
dependence, yes—but with solidarity. Defending one's interests, yes—but not at
the cost of cooperation, because balance is never maintained alone. It requires
listening, flexibility, and grounding.
In
this sense, Trump's economic war is an imbalance that takes itself for a cure.
An attempt to regain control through control, power through conflict. But true
balance is never imposed—it is negotiated.
And
we, equilibricians, have the strange but essential task of not choosing sides
too quickly. Of remaining in the tension. Of not giving in to simplistic
narratives. And perhaps, in this world of power struggles, of embodying another
relationship: one that rejects violence without rejecting the truth.
By Henri Barbeblanche

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