By ‘Alopi Latukefu,

President Trump strode out to his lectern with a board and a long list of names - the names of the countries on which he planned to impose varying tariffs as part of reshaping world trade. A reshape that was all about the ‘liberation’ of the American people from the shackles they had seemingly bound themselves to by being the leaders of the free world and bastion of free trade. A reshape that might provide an illusion of fairness for the labourers of the United States of America (USA), but which will disproportionally impact women working in the manufacture and agricultural export industries of the Global South.

Like a modern-day Prometheus, it seemed the USA was forever destined to be tied to an unfair set of trade relationships with the global economy. Each day, its heart and soul were torn out by the vultures of the rest of the world as they engorged themselves on the entrails of the long-suffering USA worker and, what was once, a great manufacturing nation. 

Every passing year this endless torture imposed not by some cruel god - but rather by the country itself, in the misguided belief that it must tie itself to the global economy to free humanity from poverty, conflict and illiberalism, was entrenching an unfair advantage for the rest of the world at the expense of the USA.

For President Trump and his administration this had to stop. Liberation Day - the day that the USA freed itself from its own self-imposed incarceration - was to do exactly that: rebalance world trade in favour of the USA and at the same time bring jobs back to the American worker.

But unlike Prometheus whose gift to humanity of fire, according to the myth, was an act of true sacrifice - the USA’s role in building the global trade architecture was not without its upside. No country has benefitted more from the last eighty years of liberalisation of the global trade environment than the USA.

Since the 1980s other countries in the Global South opted to travel this same path towards success – China first, followed more recently by the East Asian dragons and tiger economies who saw the opportunity to lift their own populations out of poverty and used the structural extractive supply chains leftover from the colonial period to join the new age of free trade with gusto. 

This led to the moving of usually lower paid, unskilled, or semi-skilled jobs to other countries but also allowed USA corporations to become global multinationals and gain a controlling hand and comparative advantage in the global economy as they expanded their operations into globalisation.

However, this is where the Trump liberation narrative ends, as an end to free trade will have many other flow-on impacts beyond the USA and outside of the trade, profit, and tariffs’ framework. 

The global centre for social justice and advocacy leadership takes a different lens to the impact of the imposition of tariffs - particularly the announcement of steep tariffs on some of the more fragile emerging economies in our region.  Our approach to social justice, grounded in the principles of presence, liberation, agency, compassion, and empowerment (PLACE), is also about bringing the global perspective to the local context. 

Whilst attention has been focused on share markets and risks to Western economies, little notice has been given to those affected directly by Liberation Day – female workers in the Global South. Our research has indeed shown that the countries most impacted by the tariffs are those with export industries that are primarily focused on labour-intensive manufacturing (garments, textiles, and electronics) and agriculture, both of which often employ in majority women.

Garment-exporting nations, such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Cambodia, face average tariffs of nearly 45%, while agricultural exporters, such as Colombia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Mexico, have been hit with tariffs varying from 10% to 25%. These tariffs disproportionately affect countries with large, feminised export sectors – creating a significant gendered fallout.

Our policy brief May, 2025 explores this impact and the flow-on effects of the tariffs on some of the most vulnerable groups in these targeted countries. President Trump’s Liberation Day victory risks therefore becoming the story of Paul robbing Petra, where women, who already face high levels of inequality and violence, suffer further for others to benefit. Indeed, the predominantly female workforce in these targeted countries now risk, at worse, losing their opportunity of economic livelihoods,  or, at best, see their employment conditions, already often exploitative,  deteriorate further as companies and owners try to extract further value from already high volume, low margin sectors. 

Our policy brief also offers some food for thought and policy recommendations on how governments can intervene in both the global south and global north. This includes putting in place measures to protect those impacted unfairly by the tariffs, while addressing some of the other exploitative practices and dangerous workplaces that already exist. While the fallout from Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs constitutes a clear and immediate crisis for women in the Global South, it also offers an opportunity to step back and confront the deeper structural flaws in the global trade system. Gender inequality in international trade is not new - the pre-Trump system already failed to adequately value or protect women’s contributions. Rather than seeking a return to the pre-tariff status quo, this disruption should serve as a catalyst to reflect, recalibrate, and advocate for a trade model that genuinely promotes the rights, needs, and empowerment of women.

Read the latest policy brief.