Simon & Schuster’s author page for Mathias Döpfner and the book page for Dealings with Dictators: A CEO’s Guide to Defending Democracy list him as author. The paperback catalog date is January 14, 2025 (ISBN 9781668016268). The jacket copy, on the publisher’s page, argues that unfettered trade strengthened autocracies, names China as the larger threat after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and proposes a values-based trade club (rule of law, human rights, sustainability) with tariffs for countries that fail the test. That is the publisher’s description of his argument. It is not an official U.S. trade policy.
The same argument circulated earlier as The Trade Trap: How to Stop Doing Business with Dictators (Simon & Schuster hardcover, 2023, ISBN 9781668016251 in bookseller listings). This file uses the publisher pages, not a Forbes paraphrase, for the title and date.