Donald Trump was recently elected as the USA’s 47th President and will take office at the presidential inauguration on Monday, 20 January 2025. One of the many reforms that he promised during his electoral campaigns was to reduce drug trafficking and illegal immigration and improve the economy. Therefore, the to-be President has announced the imposition of trade tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico.

How will these amendments help Pakistan? These tariffs on China indicate short-term and long-term sustainable growth for Pakistan. Since tariffs would cause the prices of Chinese products to skyrocket in the US, which are ironically known for their value of money. This will invite the Chinese manufacturers to relocate to bypass such regulations. Since Pakistan has friendly terms with China, the first choice for these small and medium-sized manufacturers and businesses would be Pakistan, as we share a boundary and the fixed and variable costs are quite similar to Pakistan.

Secondly, the development of the China-Pakistan-Economic-Corridor (CPEC) which we were promised to provide a surge in economic activities, will be boosted. Since 2014, we haven’t seen a use for this development and hence titled it as a failed project that failed to meet its purpose. However, there lies an underlying fact that no situation has occurred since 2014 that would test CPEC with its purpose until now!

The current situation will allow CPEC to meet its use as Pakistan will be destined to be an economic hub since it would allow all the landlocked countries to export their products through Pakistan, which will allow an increase in foreign reserves for the country and turn Pakistan into a global trading hub in the long term.