Trump’s Trade War Handed China a Strategic Advantage

2 comments

1. Phillips Payson O’Brien: “Donald Trump’s tariff campaign has a clear geopolitical winner, and it’s not the United States. It’s China.

   “After the U.S. president announced steep tariffs earlier this month on imports from many countries around the world, including some of America’s closest trading partners and military allies, markets plunged, so Trump backed down significantly. But the damage is done: The most striking thing about Trump’s original tariff list, which included islands inhabited mostly by penguins but excluded Russia and North Korea, is how harsh it was to countries that for decades have based their security on working with the United States.

   “Japan, South Korea, and Thailand—three strategically located states with successful economies—all faced tariffs of 24 percent or more. Other countries, such as India and Vietnam, that are not formal U.S. allies but share America’s interest in countering Chinese power in Asia, faced high tariffs as well. Taiwan, a democratically governed island that sells essential microchips to the United States and credibly fears invasion by China, faced a 32 percent tariff. Even though Trump suspended these and other tariffs for 90 days as he wrestles with the economic mess caused by his choices, they remain a lingering threat.

   “Trump is showing that he is willing to violate long-standing norms and strike at the core of other countries’ prosperity—and that nothing in the American system will stop a president hell-bent on punishing his own country’s allies for the sake of domestic politics.

   “This won’t just drive traditional allies away from the U.S.; it will also likely push them toward closer economic relations with the world’s other superpower. China offers access to raw-earth minerals and deep, well-functioning supply chains. Chinese leaders can present themselves, unlike their mercurial American counterparts, as reliable and steady economic partners.

   “Meanwhile, Trump’s anti-trade campaign also furthers Beijing’s goal of gaining control of Taiwan. Although the U.S. is not formally pledged to defend the island militarily, Washington has maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity: The mere possibility of American military action to protect Taiwan helps deter Chinese aggression; U.S. reliance on Taiwanese chips made such a defense seem all the more credible. Trump’s posture changes that. The U.S. is now treating its allies and potential allies in the western Pacific region more as economic threats than as strategic partners.”

   Read more here: [https://theatln.tc/axNO97Ag](https://theatln.tc/axNO97Ag) 

2. Biden had spent his whole term limiting China influence over global markets.

   Trump handed it over because he’s too unstable and unwilling to do any real work.  He thinks he can wave a wand and declare it be so.

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