 |
| Click: Chinese viral video. (English translation below.) |
The US is inflaming nationalist animosity in China.
"Trade War, hey, Trade War.
The perpetrator, he dared to fight!"
American jingo-ism is good politics for Trump. Stir up the rubes. It makes friends.
It also makes enemies.
A close up look at a video that has gone viral in China.
Donald Trump's campaign and presidency led a new turn in American policy toward trade. The previous bi-partisan consensus was that global trade was good, that free trade was good, that multi-national trade agreements were good.
Trump disagreed. Trump said we were saps. Mexico and China, in particular, took advantage of us and he would stop it. "Trade wars are good," he said. "Trade wars are easy to win," he said.
So now we have a tit-for-tat tariff war with China.
In the US, Trump is doing fine politically, so far. No problem in the farm states. We see hardship for farmers who cannot sell their soybean and wheat crops but they were bought off by emergency government subsidies, and there was no loud voice of protest that taxpayers are now the saps.
Importers with complicated supply chains are mumbling, but quietly. The Chamber of Commerce isn't complaining loudly. Trump is their guy, and they are staying mum.
Trump is not losing his base. If farm states Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and the Dakotas looked like they were turning blue, Trump would stop. They aren't. He isn't.
What is happening in China? It isn't good. The United States is reviving powerful memories of Chinese humiliation by Western colonial powers and Japan.
It is a point of deep national pride that China achieved its independence and sovereignty over colonial oppressors. A video went viral in China. It linked the trade war with the United States with the music and theme of the Chinese response to Japanese occupation, in a propaganda film, "Tunnel War."
"Tunnel War" will be new to Americans, but it is well known in China.
It strikes a chord in China. Pride. Resistance. Strength. Defiance. Victory over an oppressor. These memories are fresh, in the lifetimes of grandparents, and in the education of every school child.
 |
| Click: Propaganda film "Tunnel War." |
The Chinese people have gained a new in-their-face enemy, the United States.
Nothing good can come of this for the United States.
Look at the clip for the original song and video, which was the inspiration for the new lyrics, with America now as the enemy.
Here are the lyrics, translated to English for me by a native speaker of Chinese fluent in English, for the new version of the video:
"Trade war, hey, trade war,
Not afraid that he is arrogant to challenge.
Oh, I am not afraid that he is arrogant.
A trade war broke out in the Pacific.
One Belt, One Road, One Piece.
The perpetrator, he dared to fight,
his head is dizzy and dazzling.
The perpetrator, he dared to fight.
Soldiers will block.
Water comes to earth
Overturn the perpetrators.
Trade war, hey, trade war.
Chinese children, thousands of them.
Oh, the same enemy, tens of millions
Come to fight.
Do not provoke things, do not fear things, start a trade war.
The perpetrator, he dared to fight
Work together.
The perpetrator, he dared to fight.
Diplomatic economy
Soldiers will block
Water comes to earth
Overturn the perpetrators."
3 comments:
Whatever effect the tariffs and subsequent bailouts and deficits have are peripheral, but I'd note one other aspect.
This has a racial undertone that speaks directly to the cult. Foreigners who don't look like us taking advantage and in cahoots with traitors. See a theme?
The intention is to entice consumers to "buy American", but the likely effect will be not buying at all. Tariffs are an 19th century tactic that will backfire in a world economy where commodities are traded globally and foreign labor markets can absorb a decline. Consumers will probably wait it out, while manufactures suffer. If we start to see widespread factories closing and layoffs they will back off, declare victory and blame Democrats.
"The Trade War-- Another Trump Win"
I'm in Hong Kong for a few days. The trade war is popular with Hong Kongers and indeed with virtually every other Asian country. Asia is rooting for Trump! American myopia, bipartisan to its core, reigns supreme, but only in America. The #1 view in Asia is what the American left can't see, like a color blindness: trade wars are excellent substitutes for military conflicts. Trade wars don't result in military conflict, only naval embargoes do. Trump is not trying to embargo trade because he's right that the most politically expedient way to regain trade parity is with a well publicized trade war.
The American left has a clueless worldview on almost everything international now, from the Paris climate accord, to the Iran deal, to NATO deadbeats, to the NAFTA repeal and replace, Trump is winning them all as we cry in our beer. We even try to project our political correctness on the trade war, which sounds ludicrous to most of the rest of the world, but yes yes, the trade war is racist and xenophobic!
But back in the real world far away from a self-absorbed America, China is the enemy of each and everyone of its neighbors except North Korea, a country that produces nothing any consumer wants. And I mean neighbor writ large, as in the entire developing world seething with resentment over the excesses of China's and belt and road. China's neighbors, hyper-aware that China's largess is all built on Western money that is now looking for a new home, are ready to have the factories close in China and open back up in their countries.
But here's the beauty of it-- China and the US have a self-contained bilateral-only trade war, neither of us has any partners, allies, blocs or proxies. Hell, neither even has a coalition of the willing, it's just two superpowers in a smack down by autocratic personalities. Neither Trump nor Xi has any domestic accountability because public opinion in each country is easy to control in the low risk milieu of "a trade war", a tiny little trade war at that by historical GDP standards. Yes, activists and propagandists are busy posting viral videos with catchy history echoing jingoes in the shallow depth of political awareness the public has in either country. Look at Peter's videos-- they are entertainment produced to get views and likes. They can barely do that, as hardly a reader will actually click the links. (Admit it, you didn't click on the videos because you yourself could care less about the trade war. That's the point. Trump gets the strongman headlines without paying a thing.
In reality, few in the US or China give a damn about the trade war, if anything its political fun, with just enough stories about isolated collateral damages to give the fight a tingling feeling. In fact, Dems are gleeful to hear that Trump farmers are suffering, all the better, ha ha, take that deplorables. But really, no one cares, it's just fun to watch. Trump is right and amazingly politically astute in bragging that trade wars are fun and easy to win. He understands that winning is being able to claim you won, to cease the hostilities anytime he wants and declare "we won", with President Xi ready to the do the same. Meanwhile both superpower rascals are enjoying the support of publics who aren't personally invested. Why? Because trade wars are not military conflicts and almost none of us knows a single person who has been hurt in political skirmishes.
The bottom line is that this is all just another big Trump win like almost every other international kick-in-the-ass he has given friends and foes alike. What are the 2020 Dems saying about Trump's trade war-- virtually nothing. That's how you know it's a Trump win, after all.
I'm one of those "Lefties" who actually supports most of Trump's "trade war," and I agree with much of what Thad has said. Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade has been my go-to expert on trade for years now, and she explains clearly that this is one issue that finds common ground among INFORMED individuals, who as Thad rightly points out, are few and far between. Btw, uniformly ignored in MSM are the ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) chapters of these
trade agreements that hand over virtual sovereignty to multi-national corporations over nation states. One recent example was Phillip Morris' suit, under CAFTA, against the nation of Uruguay for putting caution labels on their cigarette packaging, seeking damages for "present and future profits." https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/fighting-over-trade-wars-lori-wallach-podcast-transcript-ncna958876
Andy Seles
Post a Comment