What’s with… the Tariff War?

Used to a time when wars were very simple. Opposing sides lined their troops on a field across from each other – whether on horses or elephants or on foot – and then galloped or ran towards each other to hack away with swords or pikes or whatever until one side screamed “no mas! No mas!”!!! But today warfare has evolved (devolved?) into “cold wars”, hybrid wars” and now a “tariff war”!!
The latter was launched by Pres Trump as soon as he entered office! It had made your poor Eyewitness’ eyes spin with all the intricacies of tariffs that have to do with taxes, excise, duties!! These all of involve crunching numbers – which makes his brain spin!! Basically, Trump could launch this weapon because so many countries – friends and foes – export huge quantities of goods to the US to keep their own economies going!! The US importers then pay them in greenbacks which every other country will accept for whatever THEY produce!! So, if a country – like North Korea – doesn’t ship anything to the States – the tariff war hasn’t the slightest effect on them!!
Now since China is the largest exporter of goods to the US – produced cheaply to fill all those K Marts and Walmarts!! – the theory was China the enemy would be brought to its knees!! But the fly in the ointment was Americans had gotten so used to the cheap “Made in China” stuff they would suffer withdrawal symptoms when made more expensive with the tariffs added on by the importers!! Now Trump, of course, knew about this since as a real estate mogul, the deadly effect of price increases on sales is an existential reality!!
The theory was the higher prices would’ve encouraged American companies to produce the items “at home” – which hasn’t happened!! Mainly because the US has lost its mojo in producing things like textiles and toys etc – and the people who used to work in those kinda factories have now become lost, drug-addled souls after their factories were closed for decades to become Rust Belts!! And the immigrants – who’re willing to do such grunge work are being hunted down and shipped out in droves!!
So, what to do?? We’ll be realistic keep the tariffs on weak friends like India and the EU and moderate them for strong enemies like China!! Even making a trip there to smooch Pres Li!! Your Eyewitness did say he’s had trouble dealing with this new kinda warfare, no?!! He prefers the hot ones like in Ukraine now fought with drones – and even the semi-hot one like the “extraction” of Mad Maduro!!
He can keep up with body counts better than taxes!!

…the UN?
To have a duty is to have the responsibility to do something specified. So, when your Eyewitness reads about the continued bombing by Israel of Lebanon – which daily adds dozens of killings to the over 74,000 Palestinians already murdered – he wonders not only about one’s personal duty but also about the UN’s DUTY to Protect against such killings. The Responsibility to Protect – known as R2P – was unanimously adopted in 2005 at the UN World Summit.
It was to ensure that the international community never again fail to halt the mass atrocity of “crimes against humanity”. The concept emerged in response to the failure of the international community to adequately respond to mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The International Committee on Intervention and State Sovereignty developed the concept of R2P during 2001.
A small nation like ours ultimately depends on the international multilateral institutions to prevent excesses – whether external as from Mad Maduro or internal from “political sophisticates”.
First, they bombed the Palestinians…

…Transparency International?
In an age where infinite amounts of information can be stored, computed and massaged by computers – now aided by AI bots – your Eyewitness shares the consternation of Texiera about relying on “perceptions” to judge a country!!
Even beauty pageants have criteria!!