The world will once again have to prepare for messages like this: “For far too long we have relied on taxing our great people through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Through lax and woefully weak trade agreements, the American economy has brought growth and prosperity to the world while we have taxed ourselves. It’s time to change that. I am announcing today that I will establish the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our customs duties, taxes and all revenue from foreign sources. We will start charging those who trade and make money with us and they will FINALLY pay their fair share. January 20, 2025 will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The language is familiar, Donald Trump has struck again on his own channel Truth Social. And as in the first election period, those affected and observers are faced with the question of how seriously the contribution should be taken. “The rest of the world is laughing at us.” Trump is occasionally portrayed as an ignoramus who understands little. He is more often seen as an unprincipled populist, driven solely by selfish motives. That’s probably wrong. In fact, 40 years ago he made public basic beliefs that he has stuck to to this day, even if they occasionally appear in new guises. This is shown in an astonishingly revealing long interview that Trump gave to “Playboy” magazine in 1990. This is also proven by the advertisements that he placed in major newspapers at the time in order to get America on a different economic policy course.
From his contributions at that time, the principles and basic ideas can be distilled from which he has not deviated to this day and probably will not deviate from again because people in old age do not tend to change. His ideas include that America is in decline and that everything must be done to return it to its former strength. “I hate to see this country go to the dogs. “The rest of the world is laughing at us,” he told “Playboy.” Why Trump is looking at Greenland This view is reflected in the campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” which authentically embodies Trump like no one else could. He is probably not the brainchild of a campaign expert. Size means, above all, strength in military, economic and geostrategic terms. Trump is currently concerned with Greenland, which he would like to annex to the USA. His comments are professionally ridiculed by entertainers on the relevant talk shows, as if the politician didn’t know what he was talking about. The geopolitical reality is different. In the United States, there is a growing impression among military experts that the island could become relevant under Denmark’s care and that America is lagging behind the Russians in establishing a military presence in the Arctic, which could become more important as melting ice creates new sea and trade routes. Because the Greenlanders themselves are currently striving for independence from Denmark, the timing for formulating American interests is at least not absurd. It suits Trump to throw a stone into the water and study the waves in pursuit of the principle of strength. The fact that when asked by a journalist he does not rule out military force in achieving his goal reveals the negotiator who does not give up his trump cards and less the militarist who wants to attack a NATO partner. A Playboy interview from 1990 Trump’s statements about the Panama Canal were publicly received with a mixture of indignation and ridicule, also fit into the picture of a politics that strives for strength. It’s not unreasonable that he wants to bring one of the world’s most important trade routes back into American hands. The canal, built and financed by the USA, has been under Panama’s control since 1999. China has strategically placed two ports and is gaining influence in the region as Panama raises transit fees. In the USA, doubts are growing as to whether Panama is adhering to the treaties that were the prerequisite for the USA ceding the canal to Panama in 1977 under Jimmy Carter. Trump may have been additionally inspired by the role of Carter, whom he considers to be one of the particularly weak presidents. A container ship in the Panama CanalAFPThe second constant in Trump’s worldview is the view that all countries, but especially allies, are ripping off America and making a nice living at America’s expense. In the 1990 “Playboy” interview, when asked what makes a good president, Trump replied: “He would believe very strongly in extreme military strength. He wouldn’t trust anyone. He wouldn’t trust the Russians, he wouldn’t trust our allies; he would have a huge military arsenal, perfect it and understand it. Part of the problem is that we are defending some of the richest countries in the world for free. . . We are laughed at around the world because we are defending Japan.” The attitude is reflected in the fresh demand that NATO partners increase their spending to 5 percent of gross domestic product. The message that the Allies are still doing too little and still relying too much on American military presence remains unchanged. The 5 percent of GDP needs to be taken less seriously because it would financially overwhelm even the USA. American governments have been calling for greater military performance from Europeans for a long time, although criticism used to be more conciliatory. A tax on every Mercedes? In Trump’s head, military-strategic questions have long been mixed with trade. To put it simply, his logic is that the US protects countries like Japan and Germany militarily, which frees these countries up funds for industrial policy measures to strengthen their producers. Thanks to state support, they then make life difficult for American companies. Would you like proof? “The Japanese have their great scientists who make cars and VCRs, and we have our great scientists who make missiles so we can defend Japan. Why aren’t we reimbursed for our costs? The Japanese are cheating the USA with a real trick: First they take all our money with their consumer goods, and then they put it back into buying the whole of Manhattan.” That’s the quote from “Playboy” from 1990. His remains inviolable too Idea that countries that run a trade surplus with the US are cheating the country and therefore must be punished with tariffs. That explains his threat from his first term to impose tariffs on car imports. He could no longer push through with it, but he hasn’t given up on the idea yet. “I would impose a tax on every Mercedes-Benz that enters this country and on all Japanese products, and we would have wonderful allies again,” he said 35 years ago. Trump is by no means acting in an erratic and chaotic manner. His very fresh announcement, one Setting up an “External Revenue Service” to collect import duties fits this picture. On the first day of his presidency, he will impose large-scale import tariffs. However, it remains to be seen whether he will also abolish the income tax and try to replace it with customs revenue. Not that he’s giving up on the idea, but Trump bowed to reality in his first term. The border wall with Mexico was not built. He still likes the idea. Trump’s fourth basic idea is that academic elites on the right and left have abandoned the little man in America. He accuses his own party of being responsible for the widespread loss of manufacturing jobs and for two disastrous military adventures in the Middle East. More on the subject This idea is demonstrated when he helps the dock workers’ union negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that would… Port automation stops. He has also long doubted that career politicians can negotiate good deals for America. As early as 1990, he suggested making the financial investor Carl Icahn the government’s negotiator. In these weeks he made his friend, the very wealthy real estate developer Steve Witkoff, a negotiator for the Middle East and now credits him with having played a central role in negotiating the ceasefire in Gaza. All of these examples show that Trump is by no means erratic acts chaotically, but rather his advances are based on fundamental beliefs that he has had for many years. Perhaps they need to be taken more seriously than many might think.
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