America has a structural problem because it is dependant on its corporations to do the right thing by America when the mission of these mega corporations is to make as much money as they can which, in a globalised trade world , that means moving production the lowest cost jurisdiction and selling their products/services in the highest value jurisdiction. For a capitalist multinational, patriotism is not an issue, just making a profit is.
China, on the other hand has an industrial & commercial core of State owned enterprises that are, first & foremost patriotic. The balance mix of these State owned enterprises and private capitalist enterprises together with a strict CCP regulatory regime ensures that China does not fall into the 1st world trap of allowing core manufacturing and associated businesses to migrate offshore. Both Japan & Germany are currently experiencing the US-multinational syndrome with Korea in the offing.
Henry Ford once said that workers have to be paid enough so that they can afford to buy Model Ts but that was a noble objective when the USA led auto manufacturing globally but post WW2 markets opened up and with it the evolution of multinational corporations led by the Yanks. For them it was WW2's dividend.
Trumps solution for the gutted US rustbelt is to go back to the Henry Ford times by providing an array of trade barriers which is at odds with established globalisation. Our Aussie farmers are our first casualties of Trump's regressive economic policies by having our access to Chinese food markets effectively barred by Trumps quid pro quo January farm produce deal with China where US farm exports to China do not have to compete on price with Aussie exports. It is rather ironic that we fought alongside America in the Vietnan war so that we could preserve , among other things, our capitalist system, when now the world leader of that system is using economic bullying tactics that more typical of a Communist State.
We certainly are at a crossroads: do we back America for ideological and security reasons and go broke or do we do an America and back our hip pocket (back China)?
Perhaps there is a middle way for a middle power but as of yet our Government doesn't seem to have found it and by the liik of things, there are unlikely to find the middle way in the foreseeable future.
We have half the country on welfare now and we're simply adding the farmers to that by blindly backing Trump and our best bet is that come next November that there will be a regime change in America that may stem the current trade war rot.
