Beijing accused the United States of “pressuring other countries” to curb trade, following media reports that the Trump administration will use tariff relief as leverage to push nations to scale back their economic ties with China.
Beijing accused the United States of “pressuring other countries” to curb trade, following media reports that the Trump administration will use tariff relief as leverage to push nations to scale back their economic ties with China.
Can they? I’m not convinced. They flaunt the rules based international order are engaged in the most cynical version of realpolitik imaginable. China gets pissy if you exercise your own law in your own country while simultaneously demanding you respect their sovereignty and foreign policy goals and operating illegal underground “police stations” in other countries. Seriously, fuck China.
The US lost their reliable partner status because they are trying to compete with China by becoming like China.
We can trade, but no deep partnerships can occur with either of them, and we can’t free trade or we’ll get swallowed by the realpolitiks of it all. E.g. dumping to destroy strategic domestic industries etc.
China had privileges for many years because it’s a developing country. I think they technically still are, because of poverty in many provinces. But China needs to acknowledge they have come so far now, that we can’t grant them those privileges anymore.
USA could have made that case together with trade partners. But instead USA chose to screw over everybody.
I agree we can’t suddenly replace USA with China, that wouldn’t make any sense.
But if we can repair some of the damage Trump is doing with better agreements with China, I think everybody is ready to do that as things are now.
It’s an aggregate - the devaluation of the US as a trade partner increases China’s, even if they do nothing other than maintain the status quo (they won’t).
A valuation internationally of “the least worst option,” viewed from the perspective of decade long trade relations.