My Take | Nothing like a China trade war to distract from Trump’s scandals
- In black comedy ‘Wag the Dog’, a US president fabricated a war to distract the public from sexual impropriety, today’s White House is using similar tactics targeting the ‘yellow peril’ and Chinese firms
The contemporary versions of the China scare and “yellow peril” have built up to such a crescendo that even his worst enemies in Washington are cheering the president if that means sticking it to the Chinese.
Americans love a foreign war, which inevitably drives presidential poll ratings to the sky. Perhaps many have now found a bloodless trade war no less distracting. However, the long-term economic damages – to American taxpayers, consumers and companies – may be much worse than a shooting war. From Wall Street to the farming and footwear industries, American bosses and workers are hurting from the trade war. There is no escape whether you are rich or poor.
That, of course, isn’t so different from many other Western multinationals and financial institutions, including quite a few major US banks, that were found to have breached sanctions against Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Sudan and/or Mexican drug cartels.