Wharton Professor and noted economist Mohamed El-Erian appeared on Fox News to discuss the jaw-dropping success President Trump is having with his global trade reset.
As noted by El-Erian no one, including El-Erian himself, expected President Trump to be able to navigate a global trade and economic reset with such stunning success. The entire economic policy is being driven by the personal influence of President Trump as he leverages tariffs and policy incentives to the benefit of the USA economy exclusively.
The scale of Trump’s agenda is difficult to overstate, and China is now positioned to feel incredible pressure to align Beijing policy with the requests of President Trump. “We thought there would be a massive retaliation against the US, there hasn’t been” El-Erian noted. “We’re collecting $800 Billion of tariff revenue” and “inflation has waned,” he said. This is a remarkable situation that few economists could accurately predict. WATCH:
WOW — Economist/Wharton Professor says TARIFFS achieved something economists DIDN'T think possible!
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 27, 2025
"We thought there would be a massive retaliation against the US, there hasn't been...we're collecting $800 Billion of tariff revenue...inflation waned."
INCREDIBLE, @POTUS !! 👏 pic.twitter.com/OaNtWqyTcf
This is not a surprise to readers here as we have discussed the Trump trade agenda with clear, non-pretending eyes. The ASEAN trip by President Trump is a masterclass in leveraging trade relationships and creating isolation for China. The downstream consequences for Canada continue to build as the Carney administration doubles down on their entrenched and futile opposition.
If President Trump can formulate a strong, actionable and enforceable free trade agreement with Chairman Xi, it will undercut the ability of Canada to assemble cheap component goods not available in the U.S. manufacturing equation for total cost of goods. This puts Trump in an even stronger position heading into the 2026 USMCA (CUSMA) dissolution phase.
Additionally, despite the mainstream thoughts to the contrary, putting distance between Russia and China is not averse to the interests of Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, who would strategically prefer to do business with the ‘West’ over Beijing. However, China does not want to see their Biden-created tentacle weakened in Russia.
China retains a vision of a global financial market option beyond the dollar, and Xi plays that long-term strategy game with Putin quite effectively. It is only President Trump who holds the key to weakening that strategy, and Chairman Xi likely reminds everyone -through his emissaries- that they can wait out the Trump administration.
However, during the ASEAN conference, again we see President Trump drawing heavily on the personal factor as a part of his strategic influence operation to push distance between Southeast Asia and Beijing. Cunning Panda can undoubtedly see that play, however, culturally they may underestimate the strength of the dynamic. President Trump leverages the world’s biggest market with a smile. The world’s biggest sellers want and need to keep that smile on the face of their #1 customer.
President Donald Trump is a friendly dealmaker, until he is not. Southeast Asia understands this dynamic very well.