Editor's note: Lidia Fagale is a Belt and Road journalist of News portal on China and the Global South, Clave China Noticias (Weekly radio program Clave China); The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Under the Trump administration, the United States has turned tariffs and sanctions into weapons of war. This is not about protecting domestic industry, but about imposing geopolitical discipline. The "universal tariff" and unilateral sanctions constitute the empire's new whip.

This aggressive imposition of global tariffs is intended to "rescue" a world going through a period in which the rules of the old order—the absolute dominance of the United States and the dollar—are fading, while the new system has not yet been consolidated.

Even so, countries of the Global South are seeking to diversify their markets in order to accelerate trade independence, a process whose momentum is being affected by the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran, the policy of massive tariffs, and the technological revolution. We are clearly in a transition toward fragmentation or multipolarity.

Trade is no longer truly global, and the conflict in the Middle East has exposed the fact that international organizations such as the United Nations lack the capacity to stop escalation, shifting power toward direct military and energy alliances.

The main actors in this transition are the United States, using tariffs and sanctions with the aim of dismantling multilateralism in order to rebuild its industrial base and recover hegemony; other major economies that are not in line with the United States' aspirations for unilateral hegemony and may offer a parallel financial and logistics system that does not depend exclusively on the US; and the Global South, in which countries such as Brazil, India, and South Africa no longer accept automatic alignments.

But Big Tech and artificial intelligence also play an important role in this interregnum. Companies that control AI and digital infrastructure sometimes wield more influence than governments themselves. Also entering the picture are countries considered energy pivots, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, given their ability to close trade routes like the Strait of Hormuz or to change the currency of oil transactions, as has been demonstrated in the current scenario.

The three pillars on which this contested new order rests are monetary, commercial, and technological. Whoever dominates general artificial intelligence will also dominate the economy and defense of the 21st century. Another important fact is that more and more countries are promoting trade agreements in local currencies, including the BRICS countries. This implies a policy of de-dollarization in their international exchanges. For now, this involves 11 countries with more than 85% of their transactions carried out in local currencies. On the technological front, China's decision to turn artificial intelligence into strategic infrastructure places it at the center of the global technology race.

The tariff club ignores justice

Following a ruling by the US Supreme Court that initially invalidated certain rates, the Trump administration reaffirmed its protectionist stance through executive orders, imposing the "universal tariff," which applies a base rate of 10% to nearly all US imports. More recently, an increase of this global tariff to 15% has been announced for countries that do not align with US strategic interests.

In critical sectors, there are even higher specific levies, such as 50% on aluminum and steel, 35% on softwood lumber, and 25% on vehicles not manufactured in the country.

"The endless end of the world" is the desperate attempt of an empire to sustain itself through sanctions, tariffs, and wars. But each blow accelerates its decline and, beyond the responses of the Global South, these measures have consequences for national economies that directly affect the quality of life of millions of human beings.

The Global South is no longer a passive spectator. It diversifies, resists, and builds. Sovereignty today is not an abstract concept: it is the ability to decide with whom to trade, in what currency, and under what conditions.

The ideologization of foreign policy in certain countries in Latin America has placed it within the orbit of the United States. However, this has not prevented a pragmatic policy on the part of some countries in their search for alternative markets or in the ratification of agreements with Asian markets, the European Union, or African countries.

The question is not whether there will be an alternative, but whether we will have the strength to consolidate it. Because if we do not, the endless end of the world will also be the end of our ability to decide our own destiny.