[Text/Observer Network Qi Qian] After taking office, US President Trump wielded the tariff stick and disrupted global markets. Despite Trump's pretense of being a tough guy, the international community has seen through his bluster. Wall Street uses the term "cowardly trade" (Taco trade) to mock his tariff policy.

"You can't bully a supply chain giant." On June 13, in an article published in The Washington Post, columnist for The Washington Post and CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria pointed out that Trump misjudged China's strength and influence, and using economic hard power like a "mafia boss" will backfire, weakening America's soft power.

In the article, Zakaria first pronounced the failure of Trump's tariff policy towards China.

Zakaria said that although the trade agreement between Trump and China this week is vague, it seems to continue the "cowardly trade" pattern. This term was first proposed by Financial Times columnist as an abbreviation of "Trump always chickens out."

"Trump's tariffs will bring pain, but the pain will be felt by the United States, not China," Zakaria cited economist Dean Baker as pointing out that the World Bank now expects US economic growth to slow from 2.8% last year to 1.4%, while China's growth rate is expected to remain consistent with previous forecasts. "Who pays for Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs is obvious."

Fareed Zakaria is a well-known CNN anchor CNN video screenshot

Zakaria said that, in his view, there is an important lesson behind Trump's dramatic performances.

He mentioned that today, the global economy is complex and highly interdependent. However, economic interdependence can be weaponized, meaning countries use any advantage they have in the world economy to exert coercive pressure. Washington has been the most active user of this strategy, sanctioning various countries, imposing secondary sanctions, punishing individuals, and excluding specific nations from the global system without firing a single shot.

He said that in recent decades, both Democratic and Republican administrations have weaponized America's economic dominance in the global financial system, using tools such as the dollar and SWIFT financial information systems to punish opponents like Iran, Russia, and North Korea, isolating them from the global financial system. Now, we are seeing the true limitations of this power and the cost of overusing it.

"Trade is different from finance; in a multipolar world, countries have many options," Zakaria gave an example, saying that when the U.S. restricted exports of ethane to China, China could replace it with other fuels. He pointed out that China also has its own leverage. China is the largest commodity exporter in the world, producing nearly 30% of the world's manufacturing value-added, and dominates supply chains in fields ranging from smartphones to solar panels.

Zakaria said that more importantly, China is a global leader in processing key materials. Data shows that China refines 68% of the world's nickel, 73% of cobalt, up to 99.9% of heavy rare earth elements, and 59% of lithium. These materials are crucial for the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines, semiconductors, and advanced weapons. Therefore, when China restricts its rare earth exports to the U.S., the U.S. can hardly quickly find substitutes.

He emphasized that Trump's strategy towards China, if any, is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of China. In recent years, China has been working to reduce its economic dependence on U.S. imports, conducting transactions with other countries, and striving for self-reliance in all fields.

Zakaria mentioned in the article that even before Trump, the U.S. government had overly abused its economic strength.

He said that global sanctions database shows that the number of cases of U.S. sanctions against foreign countries has surged more than five times in the past 20 years. Trump pushed this measure to a new extreme, threatening tariffs and taking various measures unrelated to trade (such as revoking visas for foreign students). "He sounds less like a representative of a leading nation in the world and more like a mafia boss."

The first meeting of the Sino-US economic and trade consultation mechanism was held in London on June 9-10. China News Service

"Ultimately, Trump's trade war is a typical case of the abuse of hard power, especially in areas where the U.S. does not have a clear advantage and coercion may provoke resistance rather than compliance," the article wrote that Trump's tariff policies "disrupted global markets, damaged U.S. alliance relations, and accelerated the process of the international community seeking alternatives to the U.S.-dominated system."

He said that the greatest cost of Trump's crude use of U.S. hard power would be the weakening of U.S. soft power, i.e., trust and reliance from the international community. It is precisely this trust and reliance that makes the U.S. the agenda setter and leader in the world and holds a pivotal position in many fields such as finance, currency, and international politics.

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7515642917801804300/

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