>It's late and I'm too tired to explain this in a way that might get through to you, so I'll just say this: mercantilism/protectionism is working for China. We're already in a trade war, and we're losing badly because the free trade crowd doesn't care about nation states.
Personally, I'm of the opposite opinion. The US has almost single handedly carried China through some of the roughest patches of modernization after the Communist party decided to open its borders and adopt more free market capitalism thirty years ago. Now, after we've finally helpd to pull China out of their third-world rut and they've turned from a developing nation into a superpower with an enormous emerging middle class that is hungry to consume, Trump is intent on alienating them and pushing us out of their burgeoning markets, and all those consumers who are eager for brand name electronics, designer clothes, architecture, media, and everything else we have to offer. Recently, China's demand for luxury products, goods, and services has skyrocketed, and the Chinese middle class has only recently become rich enough to demand the expensive luxury products the US produces.
Feels to me like right now is where most of the profit margin and opportunities in China are, and Trump's policies are going to deny them to us. To put it in a different analogy, its as if we ran a race carrying most of China on our back for the last three decades, and after China's finally ready to run on its own and willing to give us a share of its prize money, Trump says "Fuck you, China, we never wanted your business opportunities, markets, or trade anyway!"
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2016 10:01PM by vortexmagus.