The Square one
The Square one
As the US President Trump declares new tariffs on Chinese
imports, the trade war between China and the USA seems
to escalate further.
It has been almost a year that Trump announces more
tariffs every week and China retaliates by substituting the
goods China imports from the USA.
Besides the USA has done its utmost to reduce the market
of Huawai cell phones made by China across the globe,
which is already the biggest selling cell phone brand and has
surged far ahead of Samsung and Apple in unit sales.
In spite of it the market is such that the profits of Huawai
have steadily risen. Also it vehemently denies the charge
leveled on it by the USA of spying on its customers.
It is important to note that besides high tech products, the
major trading items between these two biggest economies
of the world are agri products like Soy and corn and also
garments and leather article.
In the meanwhile a country like Brazil has benefitted when
China bought millions of tons of soy from it last summer to
substitute the US import.
The rhetoric of free trade is almost dead by now, which
dominated headlines in the newspapers across the world
two decades back. It went up to a grotesque limit when
conferences took places in the famous cities of the world
where the champions of free world trade produced
spectacular speeches to promote it.
It was a fine ideal for which no country around the world
seem to live for by now.
On the contrary, now the world seems to have retreated
into its shell, assiduously seeking self-interest, as
tenaciously as ever. Also the various regional grouping of
nations like SAARC are losing their relevance as they were
based on big words only and no substance.
Trump has almost renegotiated the NAFTA under the slogan
‘America first’, and is in the process of almost undoing EU
by openly supporting Brexit, which has put the West-
Minister style democracy of Britain under a serious stress
when the incumbent Prime Minister suspended the
parliament recently.
It is a far more realistic world now. Here every country like
every individual is self-seeking. There is nothing wrong with
it. It is fine for the leadership to ensure profitable deals for a
country and enter only in the alliances which help in that.
There is no point in sacrificing your interests when there are
no gains as a quid pro quo.
Sandwitched between two Asian giants, for Nepal it is more
so. For both its neighbors are illiberal and have trade
policies far more conservative than Nepal. The trade deficit
Nepal has with them clearly reflects it. Besides both China
and India are hyper-nations in their ambitions and want to
have a say in global political affairs too.
So it is always an uphill battle for Nepal to protect and
further its relations with its neighbours.
Hopefully, the trade war between China and the USA
continues and Nepal has something to sell to either of the
countries. If they negotiate a deal, as they have been often
hinting all the way, than that opportunity too is lost and it is
back to square one.
K. C. Bhatt
GPO Box 20460.
