"Trump has a standard ploy. He said, well, of course we can roll back the tariffs that would threaten to destabilize your economy; but we want a “giveback”. This is a simple protection racket, is what we call it in the United States.
Trump has said, well, if you follow certain US policies, and if you will agree to transplant your industry to the United States and help us industrialize, take your automobile plants, your industrial manufacturing, your key industries.
…
Yes, Volkswagen, just like Hyundai in Korea, and Nissan [in Japan], all these countries; your companies can continue to make profits, but you’ll make them by offshoring your production from your home country to the United States.
And so he has extracted promises for them to shift to the United States, and promises to roll back tariffs in exchange for their support of US policies.
…
Both Trump and Secretary of State Rubio said, this is not serving us anymore; we can't compete in a fair market. We're not going to be fair, because we don't have to be, because other countries have become so dependent on the American market, that we can punch them in the face, and destabilize their economies, if we want.
They really don't have a choice but to surrender. That was what America believed.
…
And these deals actually serve as an object lesson for saying, well, you have the new international order that is being defined by the SCO and the BRICS meetings — and the alternative, just look at what the United States has done to Europe, Japan, and Korea, that is the alternative."
https://www.geopoliticaleconomy.report/p/trump-economic-war-us-allies-michael-hudson
#USA #Trump #Tariffs #BRICS #EconomicWar #TradeWar #Geopolitics #PoliticalEconomy
