Trump’s Tariff తిక్కకి ఒక లెక్క వుంది అంటున్న NyTimes

[andhra_jp]

Mr. Trump’s tariffs aren’t really about tariffs. They are the opening gambit in a more ambitious plan to smash the world’s economic and geopolitical order and replace it with something intended to better serve American interests.

This plan is often referred to as the Mar-a-Lago Accord. Apparently devised by Mr. Trump and two of his top economic advisers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Stephen Miran, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, it seeks to improve the United States’ global trading position by using tariffs and other strong-arm tactics to force the world to take a radical step: weakening the dollar via currency agreements. This devaluation, the theory goes, would make U.S. exports more competitive, put economic pressure on China and increase manufacturing in the United States.

For one thing, it is hard to find an economist outside of Mr. Trump’s inner circle who thinks it is a good idea. But even if, despite all the chaos it will unleash, the United States eventually prospers as a result, we will have traded away the core economic and political values that make America truly great.

This is not the first time that concerns about an overly strong U.S. dollar have prompted a major policy response. In more than just its name, the Mar-a-Lago Accord echoes the Plaza Accord of 1985, an agreement among the G5 nations, signed at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, to devalue the dollar through a series of coordinated moves.

What the Trump administration is arguing, in effect, is that the doom scenario is already here: We have an America where manufacturing has declined, economic inequality has spread and a nation overburdened with debt pays for the military protection of its allies.

In response, the Mar-a-Lago Accord tries to reverse history. As sketched out in “A User’s Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System,” a paper published by Mr. Miran in November, the first step is disruption: tariffs that shatter the existing economic order and drive countries to the negotiating table. Once at the negotiating table, countries will be asked to take steps via currency agreements to lower the value of the dollar.

Unlike in 1985, large numbers of U.S. dollars today are held by China. Lowering their value would amount to financial warfare with China, which the plan endorses. Mr. Miran argues that it is important to “intertwine trade policy with security policy.”Mr. Miran argues that it is important to “intertwine trade policy with security policy.” Much as the Cold War arms race with the Soviet Union squeezed the Communist system to the point of collapse, this strategy seeks to cut off China from the world economy through punishing tariffs, or a user fee on reserves, which would eventually force transformative change.

If everything goes as planned, U.S. exports would be more competitive globally, China would be weakened and more of our allies would be sharing the burdens of military spending. The upshot would be more manufacturing in the United States and a reinvigorated American heartland.

The most valuable asset of the United States is not the dollar but our trustworthiness — our integrity and our values. If the world envisioned by the Mar-a-Lago Accords comes to pass, it will be a sign that not only our currency but our nation has been devalued.