China VS America Trade War

360 Degrees
3 min readAug 25, 2019

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Dear Reader,

Today is the fourth Sunday so I will be talking about another country. China.

China is in a trade war with the US. It started in 2018 when the American government raised tariffs on goods imported from China. China responded by raising tariffs on imports from the US.

This week China has promised to raise tariffs on $75 billion worth of American products. Its tariffs will range from 5 to 10 percent on US goods. This is being done in retaliation to President Trump’s promise to impose a 10 percent tariff on an additional $300 million worth of goods.

Leftist Analysis:

Leftists believe that trade wars are bad and that countries should cooperate for the common good of the global economy and not compete with each other to favour their own economies.

China’s decision to raise tariffs is going to hurt the global economy and is being done in order to compete with the American economy.

Therefore it is not a left-wing decision.

Rightist Analysis:

Rightists believe that trade wars are good and that countries should compete with each other to favor their own economies and not to worry about the global economy.

China’s decision to raise tariffs is going to benefit its own economy, but will weaken the global economy.

Therefore it is a right-wing decision.

Authoritarian Analysis:

Authoritarians believe that the government should control trade with other nations. They believe that this must be done in order to protect the economies of their own countries.

China’s decision to raise tariffs is going to increase the control that its government is going to have over trade with other nations. The Chinese government is doing this to protect the economy of its own country.

Therefore it is an authoritarian decision.

Libertarian Analysis:

Libertarians believe that the government should not control trade with other nations. They believe that the citizens of a nation should be allowed to trade with the citizens of any nation they chose.

China’s decision to raise tariffs is going to increase the control that its government is going to have over trade with other nations. The Chinese government is not allowing its citizens to trade with the citizens of any nation that they chose.

Therefore it is not a libertarian decision.

My Analysis:

I am a libertarian and so I believe that the government should have minimal control over the economy, including in trade. I however believe that if another country is not engaging in fair trading practices with you, then there is no need for you to practice fair trade. I therefore believe that tariffs are necessary. I agree with this decision of the Chinese government.

This is a right-wing, authoritarian decision.

Thank you for reading.

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360 Degrees

This is a blog titled 360 Degrees. It examines the legislative, legal and political issues of the day from all perspectives of the political compass.