"Lately, we've been hearing that several large American retail companies have gone to the government to explain that with such taxes, it no longer makes sense to import goods across the border — people wouldn't buy those goods, and we may soon start seeing completely empty store shelves in the U.S. if this policy doesn't change," Müller said on the morning show "Terevisioon," describing the situation in the United States. "We'll see if that puts pressure on Trump and his administration to change course," he added.

Müller, who returned last week from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in the United States, said that the Trump administration's imposition of tariffs and broader economic policy were also key topics at those meetings. "When the U.S. government decides to start restricting trade, imposing tariffs and doing so suddenly and at the scale proposed by President Trump, that really does shake the global economy quite significantly," he acknowledged.

According to Müller, the current situation can best be described as highly chaotic, with no one quite sure what trade rules will ultimately look like. What is clear, however, is that such a policy will generally have negative consequences.

"When governments restrict free trade between countries and companies, it makes the global economy less efficient overall and tends to push prices higher. This is especially true when a country — in this case, the United States — imposes additional tariffs on foreign goods. That usually means that American consumers end up paying more for those products and prices rise. It also likely slows down the economy as a whole and weakens the outlook for growth," the central bank chief explained.

Given the United States' importance as a trading partner for both Europe and China — on which particularly steep tariffs have been imposed — others are inevitably affected too, Müller said. "And generally, it's not for the better," he added.

Asked who stands to benefit from Trump's tariff policy, Müller said it is likely to be U.S. companies that produce the goods now subject to tariffs — albeit less efficiently and at higher costs — but that may still be able to sell their products under the new conditions. "That may well be part of the U.S. government's rationale — to support domestic American producers who could compete more effectively and bring more manufacturing back to the U.S.," he noted.

However, given how interconnected the modern economy is, even manufacturing companies in the U.S. may be affected by tariffs at levels not seen in over a century, since they also need components from other countries — many of which are now subject to steep tariffs, Müller added.

In any case, such economic policy undermines the broader economic environment, as the resulting uncertainty slows down business activity. Companies may put plans on hold and scale back investments, and this could also affect ordinary people, who may feel less confident and delay making major purchases.

"All of that dampens economic momentum, and that's already a problem. Even if the tariffs don't end up being as high as feared, some of the damage is already done and trust in U.S. economic policy has taken a hit," Müller said.

At the same time, the situation could work to the benefit of European countries. For financial markets, the more stable economic and political environment in Europe could appear more attractive compared with that of the United States, potentially drawing more investment to Europe.

Since China can no longer export many of its goods to the U.S. due to steep tariffs, those products may be redirected to Europe, potentially driving prices down here, which would benefit European consumers, Müller pointed out.

"That could be good for consumers in that prices might be a bit lower. On the other hand, such a sudden change could cause problems for European producers. But overall, if you ask how all this will affect Europe, the IMF also expects that while the American economy will take the hardest hit in this turmoil, Europe's growth will also slow somewhat — and the same applies to Estonia," the central bank governor concluded.

Even though the Estonian economy has returned to growth — which Bank of Estonia forecasts could reach around 1.5 percent this year, while the IMF projects 0.7 percent — the central bank does not expect growth to return to the 3-4 percent range in the coming years. 

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