The mantra of forcing manufacturing back to the USA is not the real reason of those tariffs and plays second fiddle to the ambition of containing China at all costs. Manufacturing cannot survive the cost of being done in the USA for anything under the sun. The real motive of targeting every country is to curtail China's investments all around the world, therefore needing to erect tariffs against everyone is a self-defeating act.
The harm has already been done, and it will be difficult to reverse, if not impossible. Countries are finding new avenues to trade with each other, avoiding the USA. Chinese manufacturing is already migrating markets to the global south, with new markets forged like the China/GCC/ASEAN agreements being put into place. In the meantime, what is the USA doing? Demonizing China using the Shangri-la platform and still flogging the dead horse that does nothing to promote new markets and support for the USA's economy.
Anonymous
The USA is always fighting on the wrong front, using the wrong tactics, relying on its US$ hegemonic power and shooting its own foot.
ReplyDeleteBeing unprepared is a serious mistake, with alternative supply chains not readily available to restock retail outlets or rare earth elements to sustain its military industrial complex. A war cannot be won without the background support of capable logistical supplies and weapons manufacturing when assets are destroyed on the battlefield and needs replacements.
China has all of these well covered, planned for decades earlier, and is now reaping the benefits of its long-term strategy. Had China not in almost total control of rare earth elements and refining logistics, and is now still relying on other countries, this would have been used by the USA to force China down on its knees. Now it is the USA on its knees regarding rare earth shortages needed for its military industrial complex and manufacturing needs like those semiconductor factories in Arizona among others.
Having seen USA doggies being forced to go against China in the semiconductor war, China is wise enough to prepare for the day when its military would be forced to face the same strangulation without controlling the rare earth elements and has therefore build up a system to make sure this does not happen.
Now the USA is the side facing this rare earth problem and China now holds all the cards. Short term planning for short term gain can never win in a game of strategy.