On April 2, 2025, US President Trump declared “Liberation Day” and launched a tariff war against the entire world, including key American trade partners in East Asia. In this April 8, 2026 talk, Henry Gao, law professor at Singapore Management University and a trade expert, argues that the Liberation Day tariffs were simply leverage to force other countries to halt disguised transshipment of Chinese goods to the United States. Going forward, Professor Gao calls for rethinking some fundamental rules of the current global trade system, such as most-favored nation status.