The US trade war with China is going from bad to worse this week,
as the broader US market plummeted on news of retaliatory Chinese
tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 600 points on
Monday.
Trump had long dismissed the idea that a trade war would even hurt the
US, and has been aggressively antagonizing China with ever-growing
tariffs. China responded with moves against US chemical and agricultural
products.
Trump did not address the stock market’s dive, but demanded US consumers
avoid the tariffs by just refusing to buy anything from China. He added
that “there will be nobody left in China to do business with” when he
is done, and that will be “very good for USA.”
Trump went on to warn China against making any retaliation to anything
else the US does, saying it “will only get worse.” This is the first
time he’s even acknowledged that China has the capacity to retaliate.
As always, the ephemeral promise of protectionist tariffs “helping” the American economy. As with any government interference with economic liberty, protectonism helps the privileged few, but hurts the people overall. Because the privileged few have more concentrated wealth to spend on lobbyists and campaign contributions, they get their way, creating an entirely new religion worshiping “America” in the abstract, as in “Buy American.” There is nothing wrong with “Buying American.” There is something wrong, actually something profoundly immoral, about being forced to do so at gunpoint.
These tariffs are certainly illustrating that China produces most of the useful things Americans consume, a situation where environmental damage and slave labor is maximized. Also clearly the Trump admin does not believe in free trade, supporting ever huger subsidies for big agro.
The US wouldn’t stop trading with China to advance human rights or avoid further climate disruption, but human rights and the climate have a better future the more we buy local… the US govt is doing something positive because it’s aggressive, not because it’s principled and committed to doing the right thing.
China should send hardware to Iran.