Saturday, March 10, 2018

A Necessary Disruption

The tariffs on steel and aluminum just enacted by Trump as a protectionist move, are only the first step in what could be a helpful set of new trade restrictions on carbon-intensive products. They are also the first step in what could become the re-invigoration (however short-lived) of the U.S. manufacturing sector. It may not take a deliberate strategy to limit imports for these two lines of dominos to fall. Trade wars sparked by the steel tariffs leading to reciprocal tariffs in a tit-for-tat exchange could be just what we need to end America's global overreach and reduce the carbon footprint of our consumption.

All the backlash at home over the tariffs is not so much over the added cost of consumer products in the U.S., but over the risk that imposing tariffs puts on economic growth should it spark trade wars. (A trade war with China is driven more by moves soon coming out of the U.S. investigation into that country's intellectual property violations.) There would ensue recessions in the U.S., Europe, China, and Japan. As long as shooting wars are avoided, this, too, would be helpful. We need to cease our exploitation of planet Earth. A zero growth economy would be more sustainable than what we have, but considerable diminishment is needed first, in order to return us from our current overshot condition.

If military conflicts arise out of Trump's protectionist moves, we have it coming to us, the way we forced ourselves on countries like Japan when they were contentedly isolated until Admiral Perry showed up. Yet the rise of globalism could now be running in reverse. The tide may have turned, making isolationism the new ideal. Brexit was the start. Ultimately, not only could nativism predominate, but localism. Such an arrangement would be more resilient, if less intermittently harmonious, than that of the past couple of centuries. This is precisely what we need in order for human inhabitants to abide the climate catastrophes approaching.


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