U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his speech as he and China's President Xi Jinping meet business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagol
John Hemmings & James Amedeo, National Interest: Lessons from the America-Japan Trade War of the 1980s
Tokyo and Washington engaged in a small-scale trade war in the 1980s. What could this teach us?
The current wisdom is that there are no winners in trade wars. This message is inherent in nearly all coverage on the United States President Trump administration's tariffs campaign on China, the European Union, and Japan. However, is this really true? History tells us that sometimes, there are winners in trade wars—all it takes is for one side to blink first.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the White House was faced with a powerful Asian economic power that manipulated its currency, subsidized its companies, and erected stiff non-tariff barriers to imports. Washington's response was to put 100% tariffs on electronics, force voluntary restrictions on the aggressor's auto, steel, and machine industries, and adopt laws that restricted the country's steel, lumber, and sugar industries. But this wasn't a nascent People's Republic of China (PRC), it was the U.S. treaty-ally, Japan.
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Commentaries, Analysis, And Editorials -- July 2, 2018
WTO Faces Existential Threat in Times of Trump -- Martin Hesse, Spiegel Online
US-China tariffs: What’s behind them, who stands to be hurt? -- Paul Wiseman, AP
Gun fight at the O.K. Trade Corral: Canada - U.S. trade war -- Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail
Can Europe rescue Iran as Trump's sanctions loom? -- Maryam Ansary, DW
US zero tolerance for Iranian oil imports a blow to Japan -- Todd Crowell, Asia Times
What an Israeli Airstrike on an Iranian Militia in Syria Says About What's to Come -- Seth J. Frantzman, National Interest
US needs to draw a line in the sand with Iran over Yemen -- Stephen Bryen and Shoshana Bryen, Asia Times
US pushes for Plan B in Syria -- Jack Detsch, Al-Monitor
Is Israel going easy on Hamas? -- Al-Monitor
Is North Korea secretly continuing its nuclear programme? -- Andreas Illmer BBC
America's Great Expectations for North Korea -- Wallace C. Gregson, National Interest
Trump and Putin should start small at Helsinki summit -- William Courtney and Kenneth Yalowitz, Reuters
In bloody drug war, Mexico's new leader may try negotiating -- Diego Oré and Lizbeth Diaz, Reuters
Russia win in World Cup offers distraction as Putin benefits -- Maria Danilova, AP
The politics of World Cup football fever -- John Lloyd, Reuters
