Ohhh pleeease! Hopefully, people are learning that whenever America's failed policies blow up in its face, the first thing it does is paint itself as the victim.
America has a very long history of protectionism. Tariffs are vitally important for the protection and establishment of fledgling industries and developing countries. Consequently from the time of the revolution to the end of WW2, America was the number one proponent of tariffs, and there was lots of resistance to removing tariffs after WW2 because it protected local jobs and local industries from the slave wages the third world was paying.
But all that changed in the late 80s/early90s when the elite American Corp/Business Class decided that there was lots of money to be made (for them) by getting access to the huge Chinese and other developing world markets, like Indonesia and India etc. So the elite American Corp/Business Class and their Australian counterparts did what they do best and stuck the knife deep into the heart of their working/middle class. Suddenly, "free trade" was the mantra on all their lips. Indeed, they spoke those words in ideological, almost religious, tones, as if there was something blasphemous in denying the virtue of free trade, even though they knew it would result in a massive loss of jobs and a dramatic cut to domestic wages and work conditions.
Remember Bob Hawke & Paul Keating (the fathers of Australian Neoliberalism and supply-side, trickle-down Reaganomics). We were going to be the Clever Country. We would sell our services/financial/farm/and mining products to China and, in return, surrender our manufacturing industries. And the benefits to the elite Corp/Business Class were enormous; (1) Access to the huge Chinese etc markets, (2) Access to cheap slave labour goods from China and the developing world (3) Enormous downward pressure on Australian wages, work conditions (what do you think spawned the gig economy), production & health quality standards and, as if to kick sand in our eyes, Australian companies sent their factories to third world countries where they paid slave wages and then sent their goods back to Australia so they could take advantage of the higher wages, while they still lasted.
But alas, the West's elite Corp/Business Class, miscalculated, and it took the Ukraine war for them to wake up to their mistake. How do you win wars? You out-manufacture the other guy. For every tank they destroy and every shell you fire, you immediately replace with another tank and another shell. Not something you can do very well when you've gutted your manufacturing capabilities.
So many think that Trump is being an idiot because he's re-introducing tariffs. But in fact the faction behind him that's pushing for this policy understands that the only way America will ever defeat China economically and militarily (and keep its hegemony) is for it to get back its manufacturing industries, and to do that it needs tariffs again to protect and re-establish its fledgling industries. But that will take lots of time, easily 20 years. That's how much pain is ahead for the West if Trump stands firm and the WEST remains unified in this historical shift from free trade to protectionism again. I personally don't think Trump (and his faction) has it in him, but who's to say?
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