New Delhi, May 19 -- 'What does Trump want?' is a question much of the world has struggled to answer for weeks since US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on trade partners, as well as no-commercial trade geographies inhabited only by penguins and seagulls, and then put them most on pause. He raised tariffs on China, then raised them some more in response to Beijing's retaliation, only to pause those too. More tariff announcements were made and rescinded.

We still don't have definitive insights into what 'grand strategy' is guiding Trump's chaotic tariff agenda. But few clues have begun to emerge.

It's clear that the White House is using its 'Liberation Day' tariff announcements as bargaining chips to pressure large US trad...