US has to pay for tariff hikes
By
Wu Yuehe, People’s Daily
The
US decision makers are accustomed to pressuring other countries by threatening
to hike tariffs. Satisfy their demands, or else they will intimidate you with a
“big stick” of tariffs. Such hegemonic logic, which has reminded people of the
gunboat diplomacy, cannot run well in the 21st century.
Recently,
Washington threatened to increase tariffs on Mexican goods if Mexico doesn’t stop
the flow of undocumented migrants crossing the border. However, less
than two days after the US asserted that it had reached “a very
important deal” with Mexico, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushed back,
saying that the US could still slap tariffs on Mexico if not enough progress
was made on the latter’s commitment to stem illegal immigration.
The
US’ law-of-the-jungle mentality has shocked the world again and drawn wide
criticism from the international community. Pascal Lamy, a former director-general
of the WTO, said the migration deal imposed on Mexico by the US under the
threat of punitive tariffs was a victory for "hostage-taking" over
international rules, noting that Mexico may run the risk of facing more threats
from the US in the future.
The
consequences of wrong economic and trade policies are hard to forget. In the
late 1920s, the US placed high tariffs on imports under a beggar-thy-neighbor
policy, which resulted in nothing but the Great Depression, the global economic
crisis and a 66-percent decline of global trade volume between 1929 and 1934.
The US should learn from this painful lesson.
The
international order established after World War II was originally intended to
prevent such tragedy from happening again. However, the current US
government is obsessed with the dangerous tariff-raising game,
which has become a source of risks in the global market, and worries more and
more people.
Some
US politicians have become obsessed with the
"tariff game" and trampled on the bottom line of international
relations again and again.
They
regard tariff imposition as a panacea, and even became addicted to it. They
believe that "no trade can be made without a tariff,” while completely
neglect the chaos and loss that the US has caused for itself, and the pressure
and impact the US has brought to the global market.
The
global market has gone out of control because of the US government's abuse of
tariffs, and people are beginning to worry about the stability of the
multilateral mechanism, which has been growing after World War II, according to
Agencia EFE, a Spanish news agency.
The
US is shooting at the international labor division and industrial supply chain,
which are at the core of global economy, said an article published on German
newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.
The
tariffs have thrown a giant wrench into Southern California logistics
industries, rippling through a broad web of companies that handle shipping,
trucking, railroads, warehousing, construction, manufacturing and farming, said
a
US report, adding that the snafus at the port has become “a
nightmare” for locals.
However,
the US politicians neither cared about the predicament of the American people,
nor listened to any words of dissent. In response to media criticism, they
said relevant media outlets are "retrogressive" or
"untrustworthy".
They
thought hegemony would "make America great again," but the reality is
not fantasy or wishful thinking. These American politicians, who act against the
laws of economics and turn a blind eye to the global development
trend, will eventually pay a heavy price for their practices.
US has to pay for tariff hikes
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