Four US economic policy shifts of 2025 and their impact on global markets

Astonishingly, these shakeups have failed to unsettle the US or global economy - but 2026 will tell whether that continues

In 2025, the world saw one tectonic shift in United States (US) economic policy and at least three others that were consequential. These shifts will not be easy to reverse even if there is a change in administration in the US down the road. How exactly they will impact the US and the world is unclear at the moment. What is clear is that the rest of the world will have to adjust to them. 

First, the tectonic shift. The US under President Donald Trump has decisively upended the free-trade regime that has underpinned the world