These are the headlines from an FT email this morning:
I'm not saying that the FT is necessarily rattled by Trump's trade war, but if they aren't, they're hiding it well.
And they should be. The track record of unreasoned Trump-style protectionism is desperately poor.
There are reasons why unfettered trade is not necessarily a good thing. There are also reasons why we might wish to slow trade. We may even be better off if we do. But trade war in mistaken national interests is just economic warfare without ulterior, let alone superior, motive. And we all have a right to be concerned about that.
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Currency wars, trade wars, real wars. That’s the usual pattern of progression.
Team Trump is playing a very dangerous game with eyes wide shut.
If China were to take an isolationist stance and concentrate on developing their massive home and gigantic regional market which they could choose to do, American high street shelves will be empty in a month.
Good luck with that Team Trump. Maybe that’s the plan. Consumer riots and a draconian state response. ‘Make America great again’ by having another great civil war.
Trade wars never end well and China (if it behaves to form) will lose money before it loses ‘face’.
This is an asymmetrical conflict in many ways. It cannot end well.
Trump ultimately can’t see the wood for trees. What’s urgently required is a new international agreement that allows all nations to be able to unilaterally protect themselves against unfair global trading and balance their foreign trade accounts (if viable) without retaliation by other countries.
http://www.ianwelsh.net/why-free-trade-isnt-efficient/
For example:-
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/09/mysterious-source-of-illegal-ozone-killing-emissions-revealed-say-investigators
But the US doesn’t do international agreements unless they are making the rules.
The only way forward is to forge international agreements which simply ignore the US.
Don’t bother to invite them.