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The war continues, but not with weapons: The Trump’s Tariff War in a globalized society.
I am trying to project a view point as a member of the global society keeping the emotions of both the nations in perspective. This would perhaps be how a global citizen would visualize the tariff war between the two great nations. Without taking sides let me try to be a global citizen.
In a jist I want to believe the tariffs war is only a means to make us evolve better in this global society, to re-write rules and innovate methods of engagements.
In nature destruction is a means of rejuvenation, it’s a mechanism that provides evolution as the perpetual result. When there are natural disasters we see it as destruction but for nature it’s the only way of building the future. As we are part of this nature we are not averse to shy away from this behavior.
War is a way of following this natural instinct whether you like it or not. I don’t think there was even a moment in history we haven’t seen fighting amongst different groups. Death and destruction re-shape our society, many times in every facet, be it social rules, economics, inventions, territories or the technologies that we use today.
The way we fight a war has seen a fundamental shift hitherto keeping the end-result the same. If it was with bare hands to swords or with guns or bombs we enter a new era without even a single man on the front-line of the battlefield. This is the era where humans don’t physically fight, but with the instruments they created – drones,cyber attacks, trade wars.
Even when small and bigger wars were fought there was one key shift that happened retrospectively; the way nations conducted their business which is termed as globalization. Globalization has benefited many, opened boundaries, allowed travelling more easily. This was mainly due to the opening up of trade among nations. Once nations started to benefit, trade became a tool to force nations to submission. The evolution of globalization has re-defined how nations conduct their business by changing rules of trade. This is the new way to wage a war.
Trump has taken the latest innovation in the trade war with tariffs as its weapon. This latest weapon is a slow poison that can cripple a nation, sometimes destroy its existence and its people, even if it can take a long period of time. This war requires less preparation, easy to decide and faster to implement. However, the results can also be balanced out by negotiation, reciprocity or total submission. The suffering nation can resort to many options which may resolve the crisis or can re-write their diplomatic engagements.
History of tariffs can be dated back to 3rd century BC, even Greece, Romans and medieval Europe used to practise it. The first time tariffs were made a law in America was in 1789 by the then President George Washington. Now I would say this is the first time tariffs is used on a larger scale.
In this age of new world order there are parties on either side that will suffer. As they say the core two percent will always be saved in any war. It’s the same 2% that makes the rules, that implements it and makes sure they won’t suffer. This is true with every nation. This is not Trump’s decision; it’s what this era has prepared us to face. This is the new age war of attrition.
We as global citizens have to evolve as nature has taught us over many centuries. This will not stop here, if its tariff’s today, it will be Artificial Intelligence tomorrow. If we can’t evolve our children will hesitate to read our history as there will not be any lessons for them. It’s not taking sides, it’s making ourselves part of this global evolution. No other nation has gone through the struggles and strife before becoming torch bearers of civilization.
As a nation of 1.4 billion we have every reason to engage in mutual benefit, after all there are negotiators on either side who can make this happen. In a globalized world we don’t live in compartments and we expect our leaders to take us to the evolved world.
The tariff war is already part of history, as time is ticking the ink drops are falling, history is aching to find meaning to those drops. Let’s be part of history that shows our children how we evolved in this globalhood.
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