China Once Looked Tough on Trade. Now Its Options Are Dwindling
Extremely one sided comments, with a US centric view. The world is not the US, and HN readers are not only US citizens, so let me express a different point of view.Assumption: Trump wants fair trade. HN readers want fair trade.What is needed: fair trading rules, fair IP rules, fair capital structures, and a fair currency.Tackling some of the unfair trade practices does not address all those issues. In particular it does not address the services trade imbalances, the favouring of US IP holders (as incumbents and head starters), and the massive advantage that the dollar gives to the US economy.And we have not yet started talking about the weaponizing of the dollar, which can be recently seen in the conflict with Iran.All this to say that the US demands are not fair.You can obviously pursue your interests, but you will not sell it as being a "fair" policy.The Chinese, the Europeans, all countries have equally fair, if not fairer, demands, which must be respected.The core of the problem is obviously that the initial assumption is false: Trump and HN do not want fairer trade, but trade one-sidedly beneffiting the US.We will fight this policies, if needed at the personal level, by selectively consuming products according to country of manufacture.