..we keep hearing from Trump supporters that US tariffs is justified on the basis of fairness.
..now for decades, Americans have been living like princes exporting dollars to consume on other's credit and the way they could do so would be to buy products from other countries that could produce them multi fold cheaper than in the US.
..the US didn't have to raise the wages of local Americans so their inflation can be kept lower and their businesses can make supernormal profits.
..and for a long while, it worked for America as long as other countries were prepared to accept their (US) debt in exchange for goods produced for mass consumption in US without Americans having to pay more for their goods. And China had been producing those goods for US in exchange for US Treasuries which they amassed to tune of trillions of dollars. A massive IOU from the US to fund their living on borrowed time.
..it was what America had wanted all along, but now they are saying it isn't fair?
..If fairness is now demanded, the outcome could not be more stark. American living standards would erode because they could no longer afford or need to pay higher prices for the goods they have been buying cheaply for granted for too long. Make them in America it will still cost them more. You can see that in the disparity in car prices between US made and China made, as an example.
..If fairness is now demanded, US should also expect that exporter nations would be less inclined to accept US Treasury payments and US dollar payments as US dollar circulation dwindles as trade between US and other nations start to decline. Think of what incentives it would give Japan to amass US Treasuries like China before if it could not sell as many goods into the US as before and when they recognise that as a major trading ally of the US, it is not treated any differently
I think the world has been utterly dismayed by Trump's universal tariff 'attack' across all nations today. A very strong message that friendship means nothing and it is all about American self interests in stark display.
..It was never about fairness, it was never about fentanyl, it was all about raising tariff revenues to fund a large US tax cut that favours the rich and the insiders. Billionaires don't do charitable national service being cabinet ministers or secretaries as they are called in the US- time is money to them. You can be smart enough instead of accepting their narratives verbatim.
