Chiến tranh thương mại không phải bắt đầu từ Trump

khi tranh cử, obama đã nhắc đến đàm phán lại nafta, hillary phản đối tpp,

với một chính trị gia, tranh cử trên "cương lĩnh" phản đối toàn cầu hóa dễ hơn là ủng hộ, vì rất nhiều cử tri có xu hướng coi nước ngoài là mối nguy đối với thịnh vượng mỹ, hơn là một đối tác tiềm năng...

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Hostility (thái độ thù địch) to globalization (toàn cầu hóa) did not, of course, begin with Trump. It may be hard to remember now, but when Obama was a senator (thượng nghị sĩ), he opposed (phản đối) many free-trade initiatives (sáng kiến) advanced by the administration of then U.S. President George W. Bush, such as the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement. When Obama ran for president (tranh cử tổng thống) in 2008, he spoke about the need to renegotiate (đàm phán lại) NAFTA, although he quickly put that goal aside after moving into the White House. Similarly, during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont made hostility to free trade a central tenet (nguyên lý; giáo lý; chủ nghĩa) of his platform (cương lĩnh). So popular did that position prove among Democrats that he managed to pressure the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton into opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership—the very trade deal she had backed as secretary of state (bộ trưởng ngoại giao) during the Obama administration. The bottom line is that for a politician seeking election, opposing free trade is a lot easier than supporting it. Many voters are more likely to view foreign nations as threats (mối nguy, nguy cơ) to U.S. prosperity than as potential partners for mutually advantageous trade. Economists have a long way to go to persuade the body politic of some basic lessons from Econ 101.

To be fair to Trump and other anti-globalization zealots, amid all their mis-information and bluster (tiếng ầm ầm, tiếng ào ào (gió, sóng); sự hăm doạ ầm ỹ; tiếng quát tháo; sự khoe khoang khoác lác ầm ĩ) is a kernel (phần trung tâm hoặc chủ yếu (của một chủ đề, kế hoạch, vấn đề...); phần cốt lõi) of truth. The United States produces a lot of intellectual property (tài sản trí tuệ), including movies, software, and pharmaceuticals. The failure of countries, especially China, to enforce the copyrights (bản quyền) and patents that protect intellectual property constitutes a loss to the United States similar to outright theft (cướp trắng trợn). The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property puts the loss at up to $600 billion per year. If Trump were able to negotiate trade deals that solved this problem, the accomplishment would be significant. But in light of how much other nations benefit from not protecting U.S. intellectual property, a negotiated solution won’t come easy.

Bài trước: Trump hứa giảm thuế