Nobody out-bears AEP. Nobody:
Donald Trump’s declaration of tariff warfare against China has little to do with trade. It is about raw power, a struggle over which of the two sparring hegemons will dominate technology and run the world in the 21st century.
The pretence of cordial coexistence has all but ended in the Hobbesian era of Trumpism. The latest US national security strategy report for the first time names China as a strategic rival that seeks to “challenge American power, influence and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity”. It is the poisonous-diplomatic context that makes this week’s trade skirmish so dangerous.
The Trump administration has justified its trade assault by dusting down Cold War laws and invoking US national security, accusing China of systematic economic theft. It specifically targeted the 10 sectors named in the Communist Party’s “Made in China 2025” report, Beijing’s blueprint for industrial domination under a command economy.
…To expect arguments of rational self-interest to prevail as this saga unfolds is to ignore history. We have moved beyond the realm of homo economicus.
In honour of AEP doomsaying let’s ask what will we do when the US demands we cut off iron ore supply and the Labor leader becomes today’s “Iron Bill” to yesteryear’s “Pig Iron Bob”?
