After dilly-dallying for long, the European Union (EU) has practically declared a war against the US.
On June 22, the 28-member European bloc triggered tariffs on American products as a countermeasure to Washington’s decision to impose duties on European products. The European Commission – the institution of the EU responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the bloc – said in a statement that the move would badly affect the US’ steel and aluminium exports. According to the statement, the measures cover a restricted list of American goods, including jeans and whiskey, worth EUR 2.8 billion.

In June 2017, the Donald Trump administration had introduced duties of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminium from the EU, Canada and Mexico after a period of negotiations with international interlocutors. Brussels condemned the move almost immediately and decided to reshape its policies towards the US.
Meanwhile, European Commissioner for Trade Anna Cecilia Malmström has justified the EU’s latest move, saying: “We did not want to achieve this. But the unilateral and unjustified decision by the US to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium has left us with practically no choice. The rules of international trade, which we have developed jointly with our American partners, cannot be violated without a reaction from us.”

Malmström

Malmström – a Swedish politician – has confirmed that the American products, subjected to European duties, are: dried red beans, some types of rice, peanut butter, cranberries, orange juice, American Bourbon whiskey, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, lipsticks, manicures and pedicures and various types of jeans. Also, there are some steel products, motorcycles, sailing and motor boats, canoes, footwear, ceramic items, tempered glass, tableware, industrial and domestic washing machines, electronic translation equipment and playing cards.
It is to be noted that the US is engaged in a trade war also with China. The two global powers have doubled the duties on each other’s products in recent times, thus, creating a war-like situation, as it will be difficult for other countries to avoid its impact in the globalised world. We can consider the Sino-American trade war as full scale war, as both the parties have triggered this to fulfil their primitive geopolitical ambitions. Perhaps, President Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have very little idea about the losses they will suffer due to this war.

President Xi with his US counterpart

According to some experts, President Trump may have earned the tag of ‘injudicious’, but he is well aware of the outcome of this war. They say that the US president knows the impact of the trade war with China on the American economy. He has sounded the trumpet at a time when the American economy is in stable condition after many years. There is an increase in demand for domestic products and the situation is favourable for the US to lower its dependency on export. It means that the shock (of the war) will be minimal.
Both the US and China want to win this geopolitical battle in order to become the leader in a uni-polar (economic) world. The Asian giant has increased its influence in the South China Sea region and other parts of Asia and Africa. At the same time, the ‘Communist’ nation has changed the character of its economy. China is no more interested in serving as the ‘factory of global products’. Beijing has not only spent billions of dollars to emerge as a global power, but also increased the domestic demand to become economically self-sufficient. Historically, this is an important moment, as the Chinese economy – which was heavily dependent on the ‘first world’ – is slowly becoming an engine of the global economy. And the US knows that it is important to stop China’s economic growth right now, or else it will be too late. That’s why President Trump has adopted the America First policy. It’s a well calculated move, indeed.

President Trump

It will be interesting to see how President Trump tackles enemies at two war fronts – in Europe (the EU) and in Asia (China) – simultaneously…. The future of American economy will depend on his success.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das