The world isn’t deglobalizing. It’s reglobalizing around partners who commit to rules rather than those who wield tariffs like a club. The long-term cost of these tariffs isn’t measured in revenue collected. It’s measured in partnerships formed without us and the rise of a trading system that no longer needs U.S. participation to function.

 

Everyone Else Is Trading Without Us

Tariffs have made the U.S. so unpredictable that our usual partners are looking elsewhere to make deals.

By 

David Hebert

Feb. 26, 2026 4:30 pm ET

We can and must hold our political leaders to a higher standard. When officials use absurd numbers, it shows that they believe that Americans are incapable of critiquing them. After the Trump era is over, much will be said about the lasting damage it has done to civic discourse. In addition to other reforms and acts of reconciliation, repairs will need to be made to the ways we engage in public argumentation and decision-making, particularly in the use of statistics. Before we can disagree productively, we must reach a common faith that some truths exist and are capable of being discovered. Perhaps a refresher course in basic math could be a fruitful place for everyone to start.

 

America, We Have a Math Problem

By Aubrey Clayton

Dr. Clayton is a mathematician.

Caught between a more aggressive China and a less predictable United States, many in Japan are coming to the realization that caution is no longer enough to guarantee their security. If this trajectory continues, it is likely to result in a U.S. ally that is more assertive, militarily capable — and central to deterring China. It is crucial that the United States encourage this evolution while ensuring that it strengthens, rather than weakens, regional stability.

 

Sanae Takaichi’s Rise Changes the Game for China

By Joshua Walker

Mr. Walker, president and C.E.O. of the U.S.-based Japan Society, wrote from Tokyo.

The share of Americans holding crypto has been stuck at around 30 percent for the past four years. Demand is so slack that the owners of the heavy-duty hardware that mines new crypto are increasingly turning it into A.I. data centers.

 

Crypto Is Pointless. Not Even the White House Can Fix That.

By Ryan Cummings and Jared Bernstein

Mr. Cummings was a staff economist for President Joe Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, on which Mr. Bernstein served as chair.