By Roshan Jayasinghe
In the narrow theater of trade wars and tariff disputes, nations debate who owes whom, who benefits more, and who is being exploited. But these arguments, as loud and fierce as they are, barely touch the deeper question at hand: What is the economy for? Who is it meant to serve?
Recent years have seen powerful nations, particularly the United States under President Trump, use the concept of “reciprocal tariffs” to demand fairer treatment from trading partners. At face value, the call for reciprocity seems reasonable. But reciprocity, when stripped of empathy and expanded moral imagination, becomes a blunt and self-serving tool. It fails to ask: Reciprocal for what? To whom? Toward what greater good?
To create a better world, we must lift our eyes beyond the mechanics of trade to the intentions and outcomes of it, and reimagine the global economy as a living system of shared responsibility, where wealth is measured not just in currency, but in human dignity, equity, and wellbeing.
-Reciprocity Must Include Humanity, Not Just Imports
If a country like America demands fair access to another nation’s markets, it should also model what fairness truly looks like. That doesn’t mean simply imposing tariffs until a balance sheet evens out. It means ensuring that every action in the chain, from production to pricing to taxation, considers the human beings behind the goods.
When we ask for “reciprocal treatment,” shouldn’t that include:
• Fair wages for the workers in the countries we import from?
• Safe housing, public infrastructure, and education systems funded by responsible taxation, not just for Americans, but for the people of Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or Mexico?
• Healthcare access, not as a luxury, but as a right ensured through dignified economic participation?
• Environmental sustainability, so that growth does not cost future generations their breath or land?
Reciprocity cannot stop at tariffs. True reciprocity is moral. It is ecological. It is human.
-Tariffs as a Mirror of a Broken Economic Mindset
Tariffs, as they are often used, reflect a worldview of scarcity and competition. One where nations see themselves in a zero-sum game: “If we lose, they win.” But this is an outdated paradigm, one born from empire, colonialism, and the industrial age.
In reality, we now live in a deeply entangled world:
• No iPhone is made without parts from dozens of countries.
• No crop is harvested without dependence on global weather patterns and supply chains.
• No financial market moves independently of the others.
To weaponize tariffs in this context is like trying to control a web by pulling on a single thread. It creates tension, not stability. Fracture, not fairness.
-Rewriting the Purpose of Nations
Imagine a new kind of agreement between nations, one where we don’t just trade goods, but share responsibilities. Where economic treaties don’t just protect intellectual property, but guarantee living wages. Where tax policies are not aimed at hoarding power, but at building roads, hospitals, and schools, not only in our own countries but in every nation we touch with our commerce.
This isn’t fantasy. It’s a moral evolution of capitalism, a shift from “every man for himself” to “every human for humanity.”
Such a system would:
• Encourage nations to align their domestic wage and welfare policies with international agreements.
• Discourage countries from exploiting cheap labor purely for export advantage.
• Empower the global south to develop without becoming enslaved to debt or external dependence.
• Reward companies not just for profits, but for measurable contributions to social upliftment.
-Moving From GDP to GHI, the Global Human Index
We need new metrics. Not just Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but Global Human Index (GHI), a measure of:
• Human wellbeing
• Psychological freedom
• Social equity
• Environmental stewardship
• Cultural dignity
If a tariff policy fails to support these, for anyone, it fails humanity.
-The Bigger Truth: Trade is Only One Piece of the Puzzle
Tariffs alone cannot create fairness. Nor can free trade. What’s needed is a holistic shift in how governments see their role, not as corporate arms competing for dominance, but as guardians of the commons.
Every nation has a duty to its people, and, by extension, to other people. Because in truth, there are no foreign children. No foreign workers. No foreign air. The planet is one, and the fate of one is increasingly the fate of all.
-Conclusion: From Transaction to Transformation
The future cannot be built on policy tools alone. It must be built on a shift in purpose, away from transactional economics toward transformational governance.
Let the new form of reciprocity be not in tariffs, but in trust.
Not in restrictions, but in reinvestment.
Not in fear of losing, but in hope of growing together.
Because the ultimate wealth of a nation is not measured in what it exports or imports , but in what it elevates in the hearts, minds, and lives of its people and their neighbors.
About the Author
Roshan Jayasinghe is a humanist thinker and emerging writer based in California. With a background in administration and a deep passion for social equity, he explores the intersections of politics, identity, and compassion through a lens grounded in nature’s own self-correcting wisdom.
Roshan Jayasinghe
Rooted in the belief that humanity can realign with the natural order where balance, regeneration, and interdependence are inherent. Roshan’s reflections invite readers to pause, question, and reimagine the systems we live within. His writing seeks not to impose answers, but to spark thought and awaken a deeper awareness of our shared human journey. Roshan will be sharing weekly articles that gently challenge, inspire, and reconnect us to what matters most.
