The trade deal agreed to in Switzerland yesterday has come as a huge relief for the world economy. After weeks of tough posturing both the US and Chinese officials agreed on a deal which all but nullified president trumps “historical” announcement on tariffs. While Beijing calls it a victory for its negotiating power Trump definitely avoided a recession for his country. The markets worldwide have given it a thumbs up. While the agreement would itself come into effect from Wednesday, china had started rolling back its tariffs even before the agreement in expectation of the deal and has also agreed to resume rare earths exports. President trump has mastered the art of using his non serious image to create disruptions and then rollback. All his biggest trading partners Canada, Mexico, EU and china faced it and in between he managed to get concessions from each of them. Though in the case of India he had his way and we unilaterally waived our tariffs, for what gains economic or strategic needs to be seen. From oil in the previous century to rare earth minerals now, American trade policy is very focused. Be it Ukraine Australia or china or even Afghanistan us trade and military policy are indistinguishable.
Two steps forward and one step backward
