Trump declares doomed economic war on Iran and tariffs on “any country doing business” with it

Donald Trump has declared economic war on Iran, after the Islamic Republic refused to buckle to US and Israeli attacks and sabotage. First, Iran’s retaliation to Israeli and US attacks in last summer’s ’12-day war’ pummelled Israeli cities and forced Trump to back down. Now, the Mossad-coordinated attempt to fan protests, flood social media, and reinstall a CIA-puppet monarchy appears to have stalled.

So Trump is trying to tighten the economic noose around Iran, which continues to form the backbone of resistance to Israeli genocide and Netanyahu’s ‘Greater Israel’ land-theft plan.

Trump loses the plot even further

As with his 2025 tariff blitz, he is portraying himself as a clown.

Last night, the official White House X account posted a screenshot of a Trump post on his misnamed ‘Truth Social’ platform. In the typically rambling and mis-capitalised post, Trump declares a 25% “Tariff” on all business with the US for “any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran”:

“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America. This Order is final and conclusive….” – PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP pic.twitter.com/UQ1ylPezs9

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 12, 2026

Trump doesn’t make clear whether the tariff applies to those doing business with the state itself, or with any person or business within the country – he’s not big on detail. Or logic or sanity, for that matter. This is another transparent attempt to impose his will on the world – he doesn’t distinguish between his will and that of the US. But like all his tariff nonsense and other posturing so far, it is self-defeating.

Hang on…

China, Iran’s biggest trading partner, will not allow Trump to bully them into stopping their trade with Iran – oil and other products that are even more essential for it now that since the US attacks on Venezuela. And Trump rapidly abandoned his attempt last year to impose farcical tariffs on China. Those would have wrecked the US economy, which relies hugely on Chinese-made products. They would have made China an impossible market for US manufacturers too, since the Chinese were clear any tariffs imposed by the US would immediately be reciprocated.

Russia, though buying less Iranian oil, will not be cowed either. Iran has more than a hundred other trading partners despite years of US sanctions. The UAE is Iran’s third-biggest trading partner. The US needs the UAE’s oil, buying some 38,000 barrels a day. Turkey, the fourth-biggest, removed 70% tariffs on US imports two months ago that had been in place since 2018. It could just as easily re-apply them if Trump targets them.

Send in the clowns

In the end, Trump’s attempt to isolate and break Iran is likely to further isolate the US and build up the emerging BRICS bloc headed by Brazil, China, India and South Africa of which Iran has been a member since 2024. Ten nations – including the worlds two most populous and many others with huge populations – are currently members. Dozens more have applied to join. If BRICS is to mean anything, let alone continue its expansion to combat western ambitions, it cannot simply acquiesce to Trump’s thuggery.

Trump’s latest posturing risk another – and massive – consequence Trump and the US cannot afford. US sanctions and threats are effective in large part because of reliance on US-linked banks and a US dollar shored up by the fact that it is the main trading currency for oil – the so-called Petrodollar. If the petrodollar fails – by other countries and blocs trading in one or more alternative currencies – so does the US economy.

It’s hard to overstate the US’s unvoiced terror of this happening. Venezuela announced in 2018 that US dollars would no longer be a ‘quote currency’ for its vast oil reserves. Trump’s recent military attack on Venezuela and abduction of its president and his wife were about this just as much, and perhaps even more, than about lust for Venezuela’s oil and minerals.

Trump’s economic aggression against a major, BRICS-member oil-producer is only going to bring the end of the Petrodollar closer.

A clown, but one who is a danger to all and not just himself and the US.

Featured image via the Canary