Opinion | Trump has declared a trade war against the whole world
US president’s protectionist state-of-the-union address ignores a great lesson from history – free trade underpins peace among nations, writes Richard Heydarian
“The era of economic surrender is over,” declared US President Donald Trump in his first state-of-the-union address in Washington. “From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal,” he warned.
Trump underscored his administration’s commitment to “fix bad trade deals” and to start to negotiate new ones, which will “protect American workers and American intellectual property, through strong enforcement of our trade rules”.
In few sentences, the tough-talking American leader effectively declared a trade war against the world, particularly export-oriented nations in Asia. This is nothing short of a misguided, self-defeating measure, which will only accelerate America’s structural decline as the world’s waning superpower.
A week earlier, Washington imposed unprecedented sanctions on imports of solar panels and washing machines, disproportionately hitting leading producers such as China, South Korea, Mexico and Thailand.
Over the coming months, the Trump administration is expected to impose new sanctions, targeting the heavy as well as hi-tech industries of rival economies, with a particular focus on China.
