Trump’s Trade War Handed China a Strategic Advantage

Phillips Payson O’Brien - The Atlantic - 14/04
The president signaled that the U.S. doesn’t care about its allies and trading partners—including Taiwan.

Donald Trump’s tariff campaign has a clear geopolitical winner, and it’s not the United States. It’s China.

After the U.S. president announced steep tariffs earlier this month on imports from many countries around the world, including some of America’s closest trading partners and military allies, markets plunged, so Trump backed down significantly. But the damage is done: The most striking thing about Trump’s original tariff list, which included islands inhabited mostly by penguins but excluded Russia and North Korea, is how harsh it was to countries that for decades have based their security on working with the United States.

Japan, South Korea, and Thailand—...
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