Sorry. I might have meant Nepal. One of those small countries, I thought, are self-isolating. Thanks for the correction re: Tibet.

Yes, it is happening, in both business and political spheres. You're maybe making the mistake of looking only at the very short term while forgetting how entrenched these systems are. There can't be overnight changes, right now the world has is forced to "play along."

I'm not sure where to start with giving you sources for actions being taken because it seems that you want things to have already changed before you believe it. You've surely read any the strengthening of intra-EU defence arrangements? Things like that mean that in the future the US won't be able to bully for leverage like they are today. It's short term versus long term thinking.

Also not sure what "actually starts hurting" the economy means. Is the hurt that's been caused so far not actual hurt? No true Scotsman economics.

The disentangling will be gradual & organic. It'll be the fear that the U.S. can shut down weapons they have sold that are used without the U.S.'s explicit permission. It'll be the fact that Trump raises tariffs over tech regulation & internal criminal cases. It'll be because few will consider the U.S. a reliable partner for trade & military support. It'll be because the U.S.'s own tariffs will raise the prices of American products & services to uncompetitive levels and what American brands don't suffer from such inflation will still suffer from association with the U.S. itself.

Trump does have additional leverage in the fact that the dollar is the global reserve currency, but he's actively testing how much friction he can introduce into the global trade system before that changes.

On that note, it's interesting that every country Trump has targeted for higher tariffs (China, Brazil, India) is a member of BRICS.

They're in his self-interest because he can, and did, turn around and convince people to bribe him for exemptions and reductions. I recognize this sounds crazy when I say it, but you can literally look up the video - Tim Cook gave him a big block of gold on public TV to get iPhones exempted from tariffs on India.

I had thought that tariff revenue goes directly to the executive branch for the president to spend without congressional oversight, but actually this is not correct.

In reality, all federal revenue - whether from income taxes, tariffs, or any other source - flows into the U.S. Treasury and becomes part of the general fund. Tariff money doesn't create a separate pool of funds that the president can spend at will. Just like with tax revenue, any spending of tariff proceeds requires congressional appropriation through the normal budget process. The executive branch cannot spend money that Congress hasn't specifically authorized, regardless of the revenue source.

The goal of tariffs is to strengthen your own domestic manufacturing economy. Under high tariff regime, domestic manufacturing gets a pricing advantage over imported goods. The best scenario is if you can get other countries to not place reciprocal tariffs on your goods - meaning foreign companies are disadvantaged in your home market but your companies have uninhibited access to the consumers abroad.

He collected a literal bar of gold (with some glass stuck in it) from Tim Cook a couple of weeks ago.

Well too be fair he has a history now of posting when to buy and sell on his social media website before he makes the tariff announcements so it certainly seems that way.