WAR
GEOECONOMIC
What the hell will Trump's imposition of crazy tariffs
on the world mean?
Por Sidney Hey
This was a long time coming. So I told a Japanese friend of mine who
imports vans and cars into Australia and who, with Donald Trump's crazy tariff
measures, will turn his business into more of an expense than a profit. The
acted out presentation of a Trump emulating Moses with his tablets of the law
are a demonstration of the deterioration in the US.
Just look at the tariffs imposed on the Heard and Mac
Donald Islands where there is no one, and what the big island gets will be much
tougher. The government in Canberra is not happy about these announcements
either, although like good doormats they won't say anything. But how much will
it affect the economy of ordinary Australians?
But the big island is just one of many who will be
hurt by this. Quite rightly the ordinary Aussie could claim everything he pays
to maintain a military force and intelligence facilities that are in the
service of the US and on top of that he has to be hung by the delusional
aspirations of a guy like Trump. Even to some extent the Americans themselves
will end up shaking their heads at the fact that they will not be able to
access certain foreign products for the simple reason that their president has
put into effect his own commandments to make America great again.
But once again, the people of the people do not count
here. This manoeuvre is only designed to benefit the big players, obviously
Americans and perhaps some of their British cousins, but no further.
Australians in particular, despite being part of the Commonwealth, are the
hooligans in the family. The little dilemma that these geniuses with Trump at
the helm have not spared a thought for is how the other trading and political
blocs of the globe such as BRICS+ will respond.
In addition to all this, let us not neglect the
geopolitical situation and the plans that Washington has been hatching with Tel
Aviv and some European partners to launch an attack on Iran under the pretext
of its nuclear programme, something that would undoubtedly involve Australia in
its proximity to protect the air base on Diego Garcia Island, a strategic point
that the Americans use to launch their operations in Asia.
Undoubtedly if that happens, it would mean the
necessary cooperation of NATO through its electronic intelligence area using as
a point of support and assistance its facilities in Singapore. If that happens,
it would mean that Trump's whole spiel against the Atlantic organisation was a
public relations smokescreen.
What will happen if this stupidity is carried out?
Iran is a member of the BRICS and also has bilateral agreements with Russia and
China so there will be retaliation and not necessarily direct retaliation. In
the event, the Iranians have over the past five years upgraded their fighter
jets (many modernised with Russian avionics) and modernised their anti-aircraft
fighter systems with Russian technology that could wreak havoc in a B-2
strategic bomber operation. It doesn't even need to be a war for this to
happen. The price hikes and restrictions that Trump's tariffs will create will
lead to retaliation from competitors, especially China, which is of commercial
importance to the US and the world.
What Donald Trump has done is to deepen the war with
his trade competitors and extend it to the rest of the world by involving all
countries as if they were mere subjects who must pay obeisance to the US. It is
one more step in the war that Washington started in Ukraine against the Russian
Federation and the prelude to the one it could be planning for China under the
familiar argument of defending the island of Taiwan.
If China starts to implement its own tariff measures
against US goods, we know very well that Washington will not sit idly by and,
accustomed to trying to accommodate things in its interests by all sorts of
stratagems, especially clandestine ones, will try to sabotage the Chinese
market using dirty means.
For this purpose, CIA guys, MI6 and special teams
should already be operating in every Asian port (especially Hong Kong) on the
shipping lanes so that accidents will magically happen.
Undoubtedly one of the objectives of the Americans
will be to coerce their clients in the hemisphere, just as they do in Latin
America, where today they have the sympathy of some hilarious governments such
as Argentina's, led by a guy with severe nervous problems and a sick narcissism
who, because of this neurotic following, will drag his country into a
bottomless ravine. The immediate fall of Argentine papers and bonds on the
stock markets, especially on Wall Street, put into perspective what can happen
to the country if it remains subject to Washington's political cable.
For now this has only just begun. What this guy has
imposed on partners and enemies alike will have consequences in the medium
term. It seems that Trump is playing that stupid American game they call
‘chicken’ to see who will give in to the pressure first. He is very confident
that his country will prevail in this crisis induced by him, of course, if the
dirty tricks he will implement against his competitors are successful and if
the rest of the world allows him to do so.