dragoni reblogged
“The Trump administration will, of course, trumpet the deal as a triumph,” wrote the Nobel-Prize winning economist and New York Times op-ed contributor in a new piece Monday. “In reality, however, it’s much ado about nothing much.”
He explained that reports indicate Trump will have no real substantive wins against the Chinese trade practices that draw so much ire. Instead, it appears he’ll get a few agreements from China to buy some American products and adjust a few investment and competition policies. None of this, Krugman noted, will address China’s disputed abuse of intellectual property or the bilateral trade deficit, which is, in any event, a phony concern.
“Why is the president who famously declared that ‘trade wars are good, and easy to win’ effectively waving the white flag? Mainly because winning turns out not to be easy, at all,” said Krugman.
He also argued that, for the minuscule concessions gained, Trump has done real damage to U.S. standing abroad.
This article is the best, short read, I’ve read in a long time.
If you’re not following his New York Times posts, you might want to, he is almost prophetic–
Krugman nails it.
People can blame Trump but "POTUS” speaks for AMERICA. AMERICA is no longer about Free Markets, Free Trade or Competition — it’s about PROTECTIONISM and PLUTOCRACY.
AMERICA is NOT reliable. AMERICA is NOT to be trusted.
The whole world now knows two things about us. First, we’re not reliable — an agreement with the U.S. is really just a suggestion, because you never know when the president will invent some excuse for breaking it. Second, we’re easily rolled: The president may talk tough on trade, but in classic bully fashion, he runs away if confronted.
On U.S. unreliability, consider the way the current administration has treated Canada, probably the friendliest neighbor and firmest ally any nation has ever had. Despite generations of good relations and a free-trade agreement, Trump imposed large tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel, invoking national security as a justification. This was obviously specious — in fact, Trump himself basically conceded this point, justifying the tariffs instead as retaliation for Canadian dairy policy (which was also specious).
The lesson for the world is that America can’t be trusted. Why bother making deals with a country that’s willing to slap sanctions on the best of allies, and clearly lie about the reasons, whenever it feels like it?
AMERICA’s tariffs on Canada are still in effect. AMERICA did exempt: South Korea, Argentina, Australia and Brazil
U.S. tariffs in four charts, BBC - Dec 2018