Thursday, April 05, 2018

Trump Pushing Back Against China

US President Donald Trump is increasingly shoving back against China on trade, which for many American analysts is long overdue:

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/04/04/china-is-no-friend-to-us-trump-is-right-to-take-them-on.html
But, as happens in history, current events conspired to delay a great power rivalries. First came the Sept.11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This pushed the George W. Bush administration to move from what at the time was a reconsideration of the U.S.-China relationship to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition, Washington gambled that bringing in Beijing to the World Trade Organization in 2001 would moderate China’s geopolitical, economic, diplomatic and maybe even military goals. The thinking at the time was clear: by showing China the benefits of becoming a “responsible stakeholder,” Beijing would play nice in the international system and grow rich and prosperous – and not try to upend the system.
Unfortunately, that thinking was wrong and we have been paying the price ever since.

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