Trump and the World Rejecting “FUBAR”

The Cambridge English Dictionary lists the word fubar as an adjective with the definition of “extremely bad, certain to fail, lose, or be ruined.” It also adds that in slang, it is often written as the acronym FUBAR, short for Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.

The acronym FUBAR is widely known to the public through the film Saving Private Ryan(1998) which is set during the Normandy invasion in 1944. (imdb.com, 8/20/2023). The acronym is repeatedly uttered by Captain Miller (played by Tom Hanks) who together with his troops must track down a soldier and save him amidst the brutality of the World War II battlefield.

The task of saving one life must be carried out by risking so many other lives. FUBAR is considered an accurate acronym to describe the sentiments of the troops. It is told that most of them ended up perishing.

At the end of March, when plans for a US military attack on Yemen were leaked to the public, the acronym FUBAR was used in several articles in a number of media outlets—including The Guardian, Foreignpolicy.com, and Syracuse.com—to describe the situation within the administration of US President Donald Trump.

However, that was not the climax of the “chaos” triggered by Trump’s controversial move.

On April 2, 2025, Trump declared "Liberation Day," signifying the economic independence of the United States, which materialized through the imposition of "reciprocal" tariffs on products from various countries entering the U.S. market. This unilateral tariff calculation shocked the world.

Trump's tariff policies, whether sectoral or reciprocal, have impacted various economic groups worldwide. From small and medium-sized craft exporters in Indonesia, garment factory workers in Cambodia, tea farmers in Sri Lanka, to automotive manufacturers in Japan.

Economists are also baffled by Trump's actions, as this tariff policy is believed to negatively impact the U.S. economy. Bedassa Tadesse, an economics professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, U.S., reminded that trade policies in the 1980s had indeed succeeded in prompting Japanese automotive manufacturers to build factories in the U.S.

However, at that time the policy was formulated clearly, negotiable, not suddenly, unilaterally, and even hostile. "Unilateral tariff policies do not build trust, they damage it. When trust is damaged, so is investment," Tadesse wrote in his column in The Conversation (3/4/2025).

Trump said friends can be worse than enemies. That's what America's major trading partners are now experiencing.

Trump's move this time reinforces the message to the world to no longer rely on the US as a market or main partner. As German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, when Trump talks about "liberating" the US, it is time for the world to talk about freeing itself from dependence on the US (The Guardian, 2/4/2025).

Trump's tariff policy should serve as a momentum for stronger regional cooperation, as expected from ASEAN, the European Union, and BRICS. Industrial and trade supply chains will also be reorganized.

Some predict that Trump's policies will lead the world back into a crisis phase. However, the world has been through various crises.

Not a single country wants its people to fall into a FUBAR situation. Now is the time to learn from the crisis, in order to "survive" by minimizing casualties.

Not a single country wants its people to fall into a FUBAR situation. Now is the time to learn from the crisis, in order to "survive" by minimizing casualties.

It is worth remembering that the most important prerequisite in formulating public policy is the ability to manage volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA).

VUCA can only be managed in an ecosystem that adheres to a systematic strategy involving all stakeholders.

For that, Indonesia has no choice but to complete its “homework”: fixing the investment climate and the fundamental conditions of industry and trade in the country. Then, join hands with global partners.