Alan Kohler has tackled the trade war:
President Trump has declared that America’s trade deficit with China must shrink dramatically, which is the purpose of the tariffs. In fact, he says America’s trade deficit with the whole world — $US43.1bn in May — must shrink, because it means the United States is losing. He thinks trade deficit equals loss and surplus equals gain, and it seems no one wants to tell him he’s completely wrong, and that the only “theft” going on is his, of rational thought. Or else he doesn’t care.
Two things would flow from Trump “winning” at trade: China would no longer earn enough US dollars to buy Australia’s commodities, and the US dollar could no longer be the world’s reserve currency.
