Trump's Trade Threats are Really Cold War 2.0

http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/14/trumps-trade-threats-are-really-cold-war-2-0/
Date Written:  2019-06-14
Publisher:  CounterPunch
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23687

Trump's attempts to bully China economically may backfire and alienate the US from trade partners.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Some meeting between Chinese and U.S. leaders will indeed take place, but it cannot be anything like a real negotiation. Such meetings normally are planned in advance, by specialized officials working together to prepare an agreement to be announced by their heads of state. No such preparation has taken place, or can take place. Mr. Trump doesn't delegate authority....

Threats are cheap, but Mr. Trump can't really follow through without turning farmers, Wall Street and the stock market, Walmart and much of the IT sector against him at election time if his tariffs on China increase the cost of living and doing business. His diplomatic threat is really that the US will cut its own economic throat, imposing sanctions on its own importers and investors if China does not acquiesce.