President Donald Trump has done it again – not merely by shifting policy, but by signalling that the United States is willing to act against the very system it once built. Trade rules are no longer treated as constraints; they are invoked selectively, reshaped opportunistically, anddiscarded when inconvenient.

In this Twilight Seminar, Dr Umair Ghori argues that U.S. trade policy under Donald Trump is now openly anti-systemic. Tariffs have evolved into instruments of coercion—used to extract concessions, discipline allies, and reorganise supply chains along strategic lines. The result is ashift from rule-governed trade to power-driven bargaining.

The multilateral trading system centred on the World Trade Organization is not collapsing formally, but it is being hollowed out in practice. Its authority erodes as enforcement becomes selective and its core disciplines are bypassed. For middle powers such as Australia, the stakes areimmediate. Continued reliance on accommodation is no longer a stable strategy.  

This moment demands coordination: diversification of trade relationships, alignment with like-minded partners, and a more assertive defence of the system’s rules. The question is no longer whether the system is under strain. It is whether its beneficiaries are willing to defend it – oraccept a world where trade is governed by power rather than principle.

About Dr Umair Ghori

Dr Umair Ghori (LLB (Hons) (London), LLM (UNSW), PhD (UNSW) is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Bond University with a background in corporate law practice. Dr Ghori teaches Contract Law, International Investment and Trade Law. He researches in the field ofinternational trade and investment law with a focus on export controls, critical minerals, rare earths, and semiconductors . Dr Ghori’s work has been published in well-regarded journals in Australia, Asia, and the UK. He has authored two authoritative monographs in the field of international trade”Global Textiles and Clothing Trade: Trade Policy Perspectives” (2012) and “Export Restrictions and Export Controls: From WTO to the Realm of Global Security” (2023).

Introducing Dr Umair Ghori