Just one day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 10-percent-tariff on an additional $200 billion of Chinese goods, financial markets across Asia, Europe and America jittered with stock markets in most countries experiencing a fall. While a real trade war has yet to be launched, the threats of one have already exerted negative effects on the entire world.
The American government is the initiator of evil. Some analysts believe that while the Trump administration pledged to cut taxes domestically, it intends to realize a so-called revenue balance by increasing tariffs.
But Washington has been seeking moral pretexts for the trade war. In a report released Tuesday, the White House again accused China of waging a systematic campaign of "economic aggression." Such mischaracterization of Sino-U.S. trade is a means by which the White House instigates the U.S. society to support the trade war on China.
The White House has gathered together extreme ideologists, geopolitical hardliners and populists to seek supposed fairness. Yet, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, farmers and housewives, in the U.S. and abroad, will have to pay the price for the frantic and miscalculated actions by these forces.
The U.S. is already the wealthiest country in the world, but the Trump administration has been lecturing the American people to believe that they have been plundered and deserve a better life.
Such misrepresentations cloud the truth. The fact is that the U.S.' poverty issue is rooted in an unequal distribution of wealth. However, the Trump administration isn't able to launch a domestic reform, and as a result intends to dredge for money from the outside world to meet domestic demands.
The White House deceived the American people that it's safe to wage a trade war, but the backlash from the U.S.' trading partners reflects that no one believes the U.S. can score the victory that the White House pledged. It's a wide expectation that Beijing will certainly retaliate against Washington's new tariff and an unprecedented trade war will be waged.
Investors also anticipate that if Washington imposes tariffs on an extra $200 billion of Chinese goods, Beijing will not comply and will take further retaliatory measures. World economic order will eventually be disrupted.
The U.S. is threatening to start a worldwide trade war that will sweep across Asia, the EU and North America. The international community is concerned about the serious consequences of a full-fledged trade war and hopes that the U.S. is merely using talk of war as leverage for more economic gains.
How will the trade war end? The White House said earlier that China will suffer more losses than the U.S.. It seems that Washington is hoping to crush Beijing's will. But there's no sign that the Chinese government will submit to Washington in this regard.
Apart from direct losses to China and the U.S., a trade war will also drag the global economy into chaos, from which Americans will be the first sufferers. The U.S. will see rising unemployment rate and inflation.
China's stance is justified. The country also has a systematic basis for political stability and enormous space for economic growth. It's a daunting task for the U.S. to defeat such a competitive rival.
