Standing in Iraq beneath a banner reading ‘Mission Accomplished’, former President George W. Bush proclaimed that ‘major combat operations in Iraq have ended … the United States and our allies have prevailed’. This was 6-weeks after the U.S. bypassed the UN to unilaterally invade the country. It proved to be a dubious claim.

In this edition of Trade Policy Decoded, Pru and Peter look at what kind of ‘Mission Accomplished’ the Trump Administration’s reciprocal tariffs are trying to achieve, and what ‘victory’ looks like to those on the inside of recent trade policy manoeuvres.

In doing this, Trade Policy Decoded surveys recent US commentary by  ⁠Peter Navarro⁠, ⁠Jamieson Greer⁠, ⁠Richard Baldwin⁠, ⁠Adam Posen⁠ and ⁠Michael Froman. While Navarro and Greer depict President Trump’s tariffs as a response to a world perceived to be exploiting America, Baldwin identifies grievance as driving US trade policy. Posen highlights the costs of the US moving away from the rules-based system, while Froman envisions a variable geometry of trade rules and coalitions to replace the WTO – or perhaps more of the same but without the US.

Recorded on 22 August 2025. Check it out HERE.