This Trade War Is about One Man’s Election Promises
I
read with interest the title heading published in Straits Times Opinion dated
30 June 2018, “This trade war is about technology” by Professor Emerita Linda
Lim.
Actually
I beg to differ.
The
title should read instead “This trade war is about the promises of one man, not
really about technology.” In her paper, Miss Lim implied that the ongoing
US-China trade war is a “struggle over different visions of models of technological
innovation”. While not entirely off the point, I feel this is secondary. The
primary crux of the trade war is about one man’s election campaign promises,
his ‘visions’ to protect his country’s own turfs for its own economic gains –
“to make America great again”.
For decades,
United States of America is one of the main proponents of free trade and one of
the few most liberated trading countries in the world. As early as in year 1776,
Adam Smith published ‘The Wealth of Nations’ an important work of economic and
social theory scrutinizing the relationship between work and the production of
a nation's wealth, probably the most influential book on market economics the
world has ever seen. Its’ Adam Smith theories,
“invisible hand” laissez-faire economic philosophies guided America’s supply
and demand trading policies throughout the centuries. This theory, strongly advocates less taxation,
with minimal state innervation in the free trading markets of the America and,
of course, in the world.
Yet,
with its newly elected president, Mr. Donald Trump, America’s trade philosophy
has done a complete U turn. In fact almost a full 360 degree reversal of its
trade policies. It has incurred wrath of
many of its trading partners including Canada, Mexico, China and the EU in
imposing trade tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of goods. We are talking about imposing trade tariffs
as high as 25% on billions of dollars’ worth of steel, aluminum and other goods
on or with these trading partners’ goods and services. Surely an impending
full-blown trade war is looming, and the long term impact on the world economy,
wrecked by one single person.
History
has shown when a single person come into great military power, he or she can
have great impact in his own countries, in the likes of Kim Jong Il, Hosni
Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi, Adolf Halter etc. However, in this case, it is this single person,
being elected into power in one of the world’s leading trading nation that will
bring forth a global economic trade war.
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