Thursday, May 9, 2019

Is A Trade War With China Inevitable?

Reuters

Christopher Whalen, National Interest: A (Trade) War with China is Inevitable

Beijing's trade tussle and brazen technology theft stunts are part of an overlooked war that has been going on for decades.

Five decades ago my father Richard Whalen published a book entitled Trade Warriors: The Guide to the Politics of Trade and Foreign Investment. Trade was a big deal in Washington in the 1970s, mostly focused on Japan. The resurgent Japanese economy and enormous flows on investment fueled by trade deficits were seen as a threat to American sovereignty. Many members of Congress, who were profiled in the book, had very specific concerns about trade, but the White House was generally the defender of free trade and capital flows that rebuilt the world after World War II.

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WNU Editor: Both sides are still trying to find common ground .... Last-ditch trade talks commence between the U.S. and China as Wall Street stems losses after Trump says President Xi Jinping wrote him a 'beautiful letter' (Daily Mail). As to what is my prediction on where are these talks heading .... it remains unchanged. The Chinese are not going to compromise, and will try to do what is necessary to delay the imposition of any more tariffs. Their goal right now is to make sure that President Trump does not win in 2020, and that his opponent will return U.S. - China trade back to the status quo.

5 comments:

Jac said...

China is living in a fool dream. No present or future US President will back down. China is a rival and the US will try to make regime change in China the same way they did it with USSR. Tariff is just appetizer, the big gun is to revive the export control on sensitive technologies.

Bob Huntley said...

China has been around for a long time and should not be discounted.

Anonymous said...

yes

Mike Feldhake said...

We need to keep pressure on China until they play fair. Too many issues on the table and we should not foolishly fund their expansion plan with out tech and money.

Anonymous said...

Europe, Russia and Asia take notice and they too (except Russia, but that will follow once their land becomes too tempting for an expanding, hungry China ) have been bullied, harassed, stolen from and threatened with war. As I've said many times here before - having lived many years in Asia - the Chinese have no friends in their own backyard. The Asians will take their money for some time but there will be no willing compromise on military securities. The EU has already indicated a year ago to partner with Trump on this. What's lacking is a grand Asia strategy like TPP2