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Donald Trump's tariffs have pushed global stock markets into meltdown, and unlike with the global

financial crisis or the fallout from the pandemic, this isn't a crisis that's come around by accident,

but one that's been designed. Now, this has led many people to call the tariff shock unprecedented,

but not everyone agrees. Janis Verifakis has written in

unheard magazine. This commentators should know better than to pretend the shock Trump is now delivering

is both unprecedented and bound to fail, like all reckless assaults on the prevailing order.

The Nixon shock was more devastating than the one delivered today, especially for Europeans.

And precisely because of the economic devastation caused, its architects achieved their main long-term objective to ensure American hegemony grew alongside America's twin, that's trade and government budget deficits.

So the Nixon shock was the moment in 1971 when Richard Nixon then president

suspended the conversion of dollars into gold, so that had the effect of unilaterally

blowing up the post-war Bretton Wood system that had regulated global financial markets and

trade since 1944. It was a key move in the development of neoliberalism. I caught up with Janice to discuss

the relevance of this historical comparison and to get his view on how China, Europe and the UK

should respond to Trump's tariff shock. I started, though, by asking him about a more recent

historical event, namely how he thinks

the Trump shock compares to the 2008 global financial crisis.

2008 was our generation's 1929, so nothing compares with that in terms of the catastrophic

magnitude of the shock.

And also, remember, it was utterly unexpected.

It wasn't planned.

...