Trend · rank 58 of 250

Tariff barrier normalisation

Broad tariffs are becoming a routine instrument of economic competition and prompt repeated rounds of retaliation, which raises costs for exporters and makes access to large markets uncertain from year to year.

Trade & InvestmentTrade, industry & supply chainstradegeoeconomicspolitics

Second pass: Carried forward from the first pass, where it was Tariff escalation. Held by all three panel models.

Sensitivity and network position

Rank
58of 250
Sensitivity
10.8rank 99
Breadth
2of 20 scenarios High or above
PageRank
54.0rank 34
Eigenvector
4.6
Betweenness
22.2
Links
19trends at Moderate similarity or above
Composite
29.4

Attention over three years

How much this trend is read about on Wikipedia and searched for on Google, week by week, set against the typical trend in the list so that what moves every trend at once is taken out. 100 is this trend's own three-year average. The score measures public attention, which is not the same as the strength of the force: a trend can deepen unnoticed, and a news event can lift attention for a fortnight.

Now
68
Over a year
−49%Fading
Over three years
+64%
Peak
103530 Mar 2025
Sources
Bothagreement 0.98
Coverage
24languages · 49 nations

Trailing 4-week average. 100 is this trend’s three-year average.

By language

Wikipedia reading in each language edition where the trend’s pages are read enough to measure (24 of 28). Share is of all the readers counted.

LanguageShareNowOver a yearThree years
English62%57−52%
Chinese11%83−41%
Spanish7%59−30%
Russian4%81−35%
Japanese3%59−63%
French2%68−42%
German2%72−28%
Italian1%50−63%
Korean1%65−60%
Polish1%58−20%
Persian1%70−32%
Portuguese1%83−36%
Arabic1%66−47%
Hebrew0%77−20%
Vietnamese0%69−11%
Indonesian0%71−33%
Ukrainian0%74+8%
Dutch0%55−55%
Hindi0%111−33%
Turkish0%91+1%
Swedish0%65−26%
Thai0%129+24%
Urdu0%26−92%
Tamil0%119−9%

By country

Google search interest over the three years, as a share of each country’s searching. 100 is the nation where interest is highest. The search terms are English, which favours countries that search in English.

Canada

Zimbabwe

Singapore

United States

South Africa

China

United Kingdom

Ireland

Australia

New Zealand

South Korea

Kenya

100

82

67

62

34

31

29

27

26

24

21

19

The 12 highest of 49 nations with a reading.

By region and G20 member

Attention to this trend inside each place, from Google searches made in its countries and Wikipedia reading in the languages mostly read there, averaged where both exist. Each line compares the trend with its own past in that place; the lines do not compare places.

Regions

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
North AmericaGoogle in 2 countries + Wikipedia in English66+67%−46%+156%
EuropeGoogle in 9 countries + Wikipedia in German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch, Swedish84+1%−27%+25%
ChinaGoogle in 1 country49+30%−63%+61%
Indo-PacificGoogle in 11 countries + Wikipedia in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai76+17%−47%+28%
South AsiaGoogle in 3 countries + Wikipedia in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu90+33%−59%+57%
Gulf and Middle EastGoogle in 5 countries + Wikipedia in Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew79−11%−24%+62%
AfricaGoogle in 3 countries96+3%−21%+72%
Latin America and CaribbeanGoogle in 6 countries + Wikipedia in Spanish, Portuguese92+17%−11%+30%
Russia and EurasiaWikipedia in Russian, Ukrainian80+28%−30%−24%

G20 members

PlaceRead fromNow90 days1 year3 yearsThree years
ArgentinaGoogle118+33%+26%+42%
AustraliaGoogle55+7%−55%+110%
BrazilGoogle + Wikipedia in Portuguese118+27%−8%+86%
CanadaGoogle145+610%+29%0%
ChinaGoogle49+30%−63%+61%
FranceGoogle + Wikipedia in French110−11%−16%+113%
GermanyGoogle + Wikipedia in German72+15%−35%−23%
IndiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Hindi, Tamil98+42%−56%+52%
IndonesiaGoogle + Wikipedia in Indonesian78+4%−22%−1%
ItalyGoogle + Wikipedia in Italian74−4%−45%+18%
JapanGoogle + Wikipedia in Japanese54+16%−72%+6%
South KoreaGoogle + Wikipedia in Korean71+25%−65%+18%
MexicoGoogle104+22%−9%+103%
RussiaWikipedia in Russian81+37%−35%−9%
Saudi ArabiaGoogle87−23%−24%0%
South AfricaGoogle74−6%−51%+9%
TürkiyeGoogle + Wikipedia in Turkish77+12%−22%+6%
United KingdomGoogle75+27%−36%+31%
United StatesGoogle + Wikipedia in English54+32%−56%+87%

Relation to each scenario

A trend relates to a scenario when it changes how likely the scenario is, how hard it lands, or is itself sharply changed by it. Each score is the median of three scores given separately by the members of the model panel.

RelationScenarioFamily
5 · Very highCritical trade divides into rival blocs S01Economic and trade
5 · Very highA great-power agreement lowers economic security barriers S13 ↗Geopolitical and security
3 · ModerateA cross-regional market access compact redirects investment S12 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA global funding seizure reaches sovereign balance sheets S02Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA regional war closes a globally important sea route S03Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedHybrid coercion ends in an infrastructure blackout S04Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedA disputed transfer of power breaks effective government S05Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedTwo breadbasket failures trigger a food availability crisis S06Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA major disaster disables the national economic core S07Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAn AI deployment step causes abrupt labour displacement S08Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA cryptographic breakthrough invalidates digital trust S09Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA novel respiratory pathogen exceeds health surge capacity S10Health
0 · Not relatedA creditor agreement releases fiscal capacity S11 ↗Economic and trade
0 · Not relatedA verified Middle East settlement restores access S14 ↗Geopolitical and security
0 · Not relatedCheap firm clean power becomes available at scale S15 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedA validated farming package raises water-efficient output S16 ↗Energy, climate and resources
0 · Not relatedAI-directed research produces a reproducible discovery step S17 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedA public service platform reaches inclusive operation S18 ↗Technology and infrastructure
0 · Not relatedAffordable preventive treatments reduce chronic illness S19 ↗Health
0 · Not relatedA live outbreak proves rapid distributed pandemic defence S20 ↗Health

Similarity = 0.3 × shared tags (Jaccard) + 0.3 × likeness of scenario profiles (cosine) + 0.3 × likeness of names and descriptions (TF-IDF cosine) + 0.1 if in the same capability domain, cut into seven levels at 0.12, 0.22, 0.33, 0.45, 0.58, 0.72. Shown at Moderate and above.

SimilarityTrendThemeRank
5 · Very highExport controls & economic coercionTrade, industry & supply chains34
4 · HighForeign investment slowdown & selectivityTrade, industry & supply chains23
4 · HighIndustrial policy competitionTrade, industry & supply chains26
4 · HighTrade & investment fragmentationTrade, industry & supply chains37
4 · HighTrade corridor competitionTrade, industry & supply chains38
4 · HighEconomic security policyTrade, industry & supply chains47
4 · HighCritical input supplier concentrationTrade, industry & supply chains74
4 · HighShifting economic weightTrade, industry & supply chains78
4 · HighRare earth processing concentrationTrade, industry & supply chains102
4 · HighRegional trade agreement deepeningTrade, industry & supply chains105
4 · HighNon-tariff compliance & traceabilityTrade, industry & supply chains185
3 · ModerateMiddle-power diplomatic leverageDiplomacy & influence36
3 · ModerateIntellectual property access dependenceTrade, industry & supply chains40
3 · ModerateManufacturing overcapacityTrade, industry & supply chains51
3 · ModerateAlliance realignment & burden-shiftingConflict & security62
3 · ModerateCredibility of external commitmentsDiplomacy & influence65
3 · ModerateLithography & chip-tool chokepointsTrade, industry & supply chains120
3 · ModerateSanctions circumvention networksTrade, industry & supply chains140
3 · ModerateCritical minerals supply constraintsTrade, industry & supply chains155