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Has anybody ever won a trade war?
I guess sometimes one side loses, which might have been the desired outcome, but that's not exactly the same as the other side winning.
I mean, just take a look at that graph of comparative exports from the US and Brazil in the article. There's your answer right there. Not only did Brazil massively leap ahead during Trump's last go at this in 2017, you also see that US imports never really recovered afterwards. Brazil took a commanding lead and held it. Even when the tariffs were gone, the damage was permanent.
The damage from this will be permanent too. Why take the risk that your whole supply chain will get thrown out of whack because some morons in Kansas elect an even bigger moron to lead their country? It's not worth it.
I'll bet dollars to donuts you can find similar versions of that chart for lots of other industries. Between his two terms, I think we're only just beginning to see the full scope of the damage Trump has done, and will do, to the US economy.
What damage? This oversimplified, "trade deficit bad" shit is so fucking stupid. We live in a global economy. This isn't a zero sum game.
I try to explain it people really carefully.
First ask them "what makes a country wealthy". The idiots always reply with "it's having lots of money".
Me. "Money is just numbers or pieces of paper that governments say is worth something. Real wealth is having the use of and control of resources. Resources are things like goods, labor, materials, production facilities, etc. So in trade if one country gets more money and other country gets more resources, the one receiving more resources wins."
I usually lose them at the first sentence, they are after all idiots.
Cool so what's the damage? How and why is it zero sum?
(It's not)
Britain, we call it the opium wars.
But usually to win a trade war you need actual war on some level.
Idk, I'm sure some business or corporation will make a pretty penny out of it...