Decolonizing Trade Relations: The US Tariff Regime and Postcolonial Economic Resistance

Abstract

This paper investigates how the United States’ tariff regime continues to reflect structural features of colonial power in global economic relations. While often justified through narratives of national security, competitiveness, or trade fairness, contemporary U.S. tariff policies disproportionately target countries in the Global South, revealing an enduring pattern of economic coercion. By employing a postcolonial framework, the study argues that tariffs are not only tools of economic management but also instruments of strategic discipline that maintain asymmetric trade relations. The analysis draws on three case studies( India, Brazil, and South Africa) to show how these states have responded to U.S. trade pressures through a combination of legal contestation at multilateral forums, institutional innovation, and regional cooperation. These responses are interpreted not as isolated trade maneuvers, but as forms of postcolonial resistance that challenge the legitimacy of Western-dominated trade rules. Initiatives such as BRICS, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and efforts toward de-dollarization are examined as expressions of trade sovereignty and epistemic realignment. The paper further explores how dominant economic theories and institutions reproduce the epistemic authority of the Global North while delegitimizing alternative models of development. In response, the article introduces the concept of a decolonial trade ethic, which emphasizes mutuality, historical accountability, and epistemic plurality in shaping future trade relations. This approach calls for a reconfiguration of global commerce that moves beyond extractive logics and toward a more just and inclusive economic order grounded in the values and agency of postcolonial states.