US- China Trade War. (Editorial)

EDITORIAL

*EDITORIAL*

*The U. S. -China Tariff War: A Battle of Giants, a Risk to the World*

The constant tariff war between China and America is more than a tit-for-tat trade war between two of the planet's biggest economies; it is an expression of profound strategic divergence with implications that spread far beyond mere trade. The stakes involve not only both nations' economic prosperity but global economic stability as well as decades-long established norms of international trade.

This trade war actually began in 2018 when the Trump government levied high tariffs on Chinese imports with the excuse of unfair trade practices, intellectual property theft, and huge trade imbalance between the two countries. China responded by levying tariffs on US goods quite quickly. This confrontation has since then been altered under the Biden administration, from overt escalation to cunning restraint, but tensions remain the same.

Supporters of U. S. tariffs believe that they are important to protect domestic markets from Chinese government-subsidized overproduction and to balance decades of intellectual property theft. They believe that the tariffs are leverage to get China to agree to reasonable trade practices and decrease its dependency on foreign technology. 

However, some critics contend that tariffs are an ineffective tool that increase costs for American companies as well as consumers without resulting in meaningful reform of China's economic policy.

From China's perspective, the tariffs constitute economic coercion. Beijing views these actions as efforts to restrain its emergence as a global power in the world. Instead of yielding to American pressures, Beijing holds fast to efforts at becoming more self reliant, stepping up its "dual circulation" strategy, and increasing trade relations with the rest of the world, including Africa, Latin America, and the European Union.

The global economic consequences of this conflict are particularly disturbing. Tariffs disrupt supply chains, raise the cost of production, and heighten uncertainty in financial markets. 

Export oriented developing countries relying on exports to either of these countries are in between the tariff war.

 The tariff war also discredits the multilateral trading order, subjecting institutions like the World Trade Organization (WTO) to testing when these are already grappling to hold back disputes between hegemonic economies.

Also the most dangerous aspect of this tariff war is the manner in which it is a sign of a wider disentangling of the U. S. and China not merely economically but also technologically, security wise, and in terms of global governance. 

If this disagreement continues to escalate unchecked, it could divide the world along competing economic blocs along Cold War lines and threaten the decades of globalization that have lifted millions out of poverty.

Knowing that some degree of economic rivalry between great powers is inevitable and good, an extended tariff war hurts everyone in the world. It is necessary that both countries practice diplomacy over conflict, engage in sincere negotiations, and strive to build a fairer and more robust global trading system.

 The world cannot afford to be the collateral damage in the war between the economic giants.

   *RUTHIE* 

 _Editor-in-Chief_ 

   _DSNA_