Breathe
By Stephanie Henaro
If Harry Potter began his journeys with the philosopher's stone, today Donald Trump is not far behind and returns to the White House with a two-headed eagle in his hand.
It seems that the return of the MAGA leader to the presidency comes with a certain type of magic that only time will tell if it turned out to be black or white. The eagle is an animal as common in the coats of arms of countries as the lion. It is the king of birds and for that reason it has often been associated with empires.
In the case of Trump, what he announces is evident and that is why we must pay attention to the magic formula with which he wants to create the present of the United States, because the spell of the two-headed eagle is produced after having achieved the intersection of the infinite vision towards the past with the infinite vision towards the future. That is the "abracadabra" that begins today for the United States.
The head that looks to the past seeks to take the United States back to the 19th century when it was living the glory of its manufacturing boom and industrialization achieved a period of radical transformation and meteoric growth. In fact, between 1820 and 1910, the country's GDP increased 11-fold, largely thanks to the manufacturing sector, whereas today this same sector is shrinking and represents 10.3% of the economy. This is why the 47th president of the North American giant wants to put tariffs on everything and wants to create an independent agency to do the same things that customs does and thus capitalize on it in a different way. Today the United States imports manufactured goods from other countries, such as China, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
Mexico has become its main supplier and of the $593 billion dollars of exports in 2023, manufactured goods accounted for 89.2% of the total, growing 4.0% in 2023, where heavy industry participated with $402 billion dollars of the $529 billion dollars of the entire sector, representing approximately 76% of manufacturing exports.
Head into the Future aims to take America into the future hand in hand with technology, which at the moment is down to five names coming from the New Yorker's hand: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
In addition to controlling the economy, the group is threatening to shape the social conversation to its liking. In addition to the changes that Elon Musk has made to the algorithm of X -formerly Twitter- to favor conservative discourse, Mark Zuckerberg has announced the elimination of information verifiers for Instagram and Facebook. Another of the great tycoons is the owner of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, who has also become the owner of one of the leading newspapers in the United States: the Washington Post.
It is important to mention that 10 years ago, the five men who today have $400 billion had $25 billion. In other words, their fortunes have multiplied by 15 in a decade. Not even the financial barons of the United States: the Rockefellers, Vanderbilt or Carnegies, were so close to power and did not have so much money. Rockefeller would have today 26 billion dollars, updated in 2025, 18 times less than Elon Musk. John Pierpont Morgan (JP Morgan) would have 49,000 million dollars updated, compared to 486,000 that Elon Musk has.
That's why on a day like today Harry Potter's famous phrase in his quest for the philosopher's stone seems lapidary: "It's not our abilities that show what we are, it's our choices."
Last one out, turn out the light. @StephanieHenaro
*Stephanie Henaro Canales is a geopolitical advisor, journalist and teacher. She studied International Relations at the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico City, obtained a Master's degree in Geopolitics, Territory and Security from King's College London, and is a member of COMEXI.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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