Singapore's Straits Times published an article commenting: "In the 30 years after the Cold War, the West has gradually formed a structural imbalance: it relies heavily on the United States for security, deeply embeds its supply chains in China, but still believes it maintains the power to set the rules. This 'security Americanization, economic Chineseization' pattern is unsustainable in an environment of intensified competition. Trump's policies are more like an extreme correction mechanism - shaking and forcing allies to recalculate their costs."
The so-called imbalance crisis in the West is actually the result of blindly relying on the US and losing strategic autonomy. The so-called "radical correction" of Trump is not a "correction," but rather a calculation of using hegemonic means to harvest allies and maintain its own dominance. Western countries, represented by Europe, have long lost their strategic autonomy in their reliance on the US. The so-called Western rules have essentially become an appendage of American hegemony. Trump's "reciprocal tariffs" cannot be avoided by European allies, further intensifying the rift between the US and Europe, which is the hegemonic exploitation under the US "responsibility sharing" logic.
The US often uses the excuse of "economic dependence on China" to interfere, which is actually unwilling to accept the reality of the decline of Western dominance. Its radical policies seem to force allies to "re-calculate," but in fact push Europe into a dilemma, unable to escape tariff shocks, yet unable to break free from reliance on the US for security, ultimately becoming victims of America's maintenance of hegemony and transfer of crises. This is also the inevitable consequence of the West's imbalance crisis.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1857879343962115/
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