It’s working.
Trump’s Tariff Negotiation Strategy, referred to as a Trade War by sensation-spinning pundits of the journalism class, is drawing in America’s global trade partners for discussions about fair terms.
International Trade is Complex.
Empty Aisles at Canton Trade Fair Signal China’s Export Pain
https://link.theepochtimes.com/mkt_app/china/empty-aisles-at-canton-trade-fair-signal-chinas-export-pain-5846179?utm_medium=app&c=share_pos2&pid=iOS_app_share&utm_source=iOS_app_share
This story by Sean Tseng reveals the realities of trade when high tariffs are introduced.
Guangzhou’s Canton Fair last week is China’s bi-annual showcase for foreign trade. This spring’s poor turnout highlights how U.S.-led tariffs, and the resulting shift in global sourcing of manufactured products, have begun to choke Chinese factories.
The first phase of the fair, held April 15–19 and focused on electronics, appliances, machinery, lighting, and hardware, opened with upbeat claims from officials: More than 200,000 overseas buyers from 215 countries had pre-registered, including big-name Western retailers such as Walmart, Target, Carrefour and Adeo.
Foot traffic at the fair told a different story.
“The flow is nowhere near last fall,” an exhibitor said in a video obtained by The Epoch Times. Another noted “almost no Europeans or Americans, mostly buyers from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.” By the third day, many booths had seen their last visitors.
Take no prisoners?
Kevin O’Leary says the tariffs on China are not high enough preferring them in the 400% range. “Kick them when they’re down” is his preferred approach. O’Leary wants to make China pay for all the intellectual property left against America over the past three decades which enabled China to jumpstart many “Made In China” product lines that were once made in US factories. This is O’Leary’s “Elbows Up” preferred tactic to threaten Chairmen Xi into balancing US trade with China - an approach that many “boomers” will like.
The other side of the coin.
It has been alleged that 200 million Chinese have been raised out of poverty owning to the “Economic Miracle” that enabled China to become the “manufacturing centre of the world”.
Aside from the criticisms that this was achieved on the backs of cheap ‘slave labour’, humanitarians would argue that the great strides on the war on poverty in China deserves the praise and admiration of us all notwithstanding the economic approaches used to do so.
Humanity divided.
People are strange. Since I am a “people”, I must be strange too😜
We are such a tribal species 🥺
Our behaviour shows that we are dazed and confused beyond belief😳
In our best moments …
We hold hands, dance together, sing anthems, wave flags and swear undying allegiance to every movement that claims to raise up and/or protect humanity out of love and compassion. The climate change and pandemic threats, the national trucker convoy protest, and the current tariff “crisis” are all good examples of when people have come together in enthusiastic support of a cause.
At our worst …
We pick sides, then engage in all manner of vitriolic and aggressive behaviours aimed against anyone who disagrees with us, or who fits into an identity politics category or social justice minority that isn’t approved by our ‘tribe’.
National unity❓
All federal election candidates promote the cause of “national unity” except, of course, the Bloc Québécois. I ask, however, if this idea still possible in this Age of Tribalism❓
Consider that the same Internet Infrastructure that every business and individual demands today is also the primary platform upon which modern tribalism is played out - on steroids, I might add‼️
Politically, those investments have also been used by leading politicians and public officials with undeniably great success.
If their goal was “divide, bamboozle and exploit” vast numbers of tribal Canadians to secure their votes, evidence of their success is ubiquitous.
Election promises of expensive government “solutions” are frequently made by politicians to address the many social and economic problems that governments themselves have created.
Such campaign promises are now understood by a growing number of citizens as an underhanded and cynical tactic aimed at taking more of our earnings and financial assets.
What’s worse is that they also succeed in convincing millions of gullible voters that our sacrifices are virtuous, and they are morally justified on being for “the greater good” 👀🙃
The art of politics
Politicians on the progressive ‘left’ must be careful in the generosity
of their promises - to “pluck as many feathers from the goose with a minimum of squawking”. Sounds about right when you hear Mark Carney of Jagmeet Singh speak and spin their big plans before the public.
Not so with President Trump. For a man who prides himself in the art of negotiation, Trump has inspired many choruses of squawking over his tariffs, DOGE and other initiatives.
War of the tribes.
Class Warfare seems the be the granddaddy of all forms of Tribal Warfare that infects cultures in the Internet Age.
Is there a solution for this, preferably a non-political one?
Trade with China.
China has been characterized often as America’s enemy, along with Russia and Iran. It’s worth reminding ourselves that inter-national conflicts occur at the political level; they have little to do with China’s billion+ citizens who go about daily life like citizens in every other nation. This fact is often forgotten and tribal thinking emerges.
Are the Chinese, represented by Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party he leads, just another ‘tribe’ in the East that all members of the ‘Western Hemisphere tribe’ are supposed to hate according to the prevailing zeitgeist?
Can we be better❓
Let’s choose instead to be the best versions of ourselves 😇
Let’s agree to the ultimate moral idea that every person on this planet is a member of one global class - humanity 😇
Let’s act according to the idea that everyone is equally entitled to respect and to the pursuit of live, liberty and the pursuit of happiness 😇
That entitlement must be guided by three Libertarian principles.
1️⃣ Respect for the person and property rights of every person.
2️⃣ The Non-aggression Principle - to do no harm to person or their property.
3️⃣ Freedom of Informed Choice for all.