Status quo trade tensions are contained
David Dodwell ’24, July 14, CEO of the trade policy and international relations consultancy Strategic Access, focused on developments and challenges facing the Asia-Pacific, “China is not posing an existential threat to global trade – America is,” SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, accessed July 18, 2024, https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3270347/china-not-posing-existential-threat-global-trade-america
It seems that while trade wars and protectionism are bad, they are also politically irresistible, in the US at least. Promises of tax cuts at home, and success in justifying protectionism as an essential part of the battle to contain a demonised China, have diverted voters’ gaze.
Mercifully, and in part because many other countries recognise the powerful contribution that trade has made to growth and prosperity over the past seven decades, mounting US protectionism has so far produced more bark than bite.