Cryptocurrency and Its Role in the Us-China Trade War by Raymond Yeung

Chapter 1
An Unconventional Trade Feud
1.1 Thanos and Trump
Beware readers, spoiler alert ahead.
“I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive … with
the stones you've collected for me, create a new one teeming with life
that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given. A
grateful universe…. I am inevitable.”
Thanos, Avengers: Endgame.
On June 20, 2018, I came across an interesting headline, “Avengers star
Josh Brolin explains how Trump is similar to his ‘Infinity War’ villain
Thanos,” on an online business magazine.
 In his interview with Stephen
Colbert, Brolin hilariously read Trump's tweet in Thanos's tone. The
Hollywood star, whose character erased half of the galaxy's population to
fulfill his own political belief, said Trump's public policies were akin to
what Thanos did in the Marvel trilogy. His own planet, Titan, ran out of
resources due to overpopulation. In response, Thanos thought the resource
imbalance problem facing the universe could be addressed through
massacring half of the creatures. He was addressing an economic problem.
He tried to search for an equilibrium, and he called it “balance.” “When I'm
done, half of humanity will still exist. Perfectly balanced, as all things
should be.”
What was Thanos's plan? The Avengers villain offered “a peaceful way” to
finish people's lives painlessly and indiscriminately. He collected six
Infinity Stones, snapped his fingers, and turned many superheroes into
ashes—a very sad ending, surprising the audience that walked out of the
cinema. Handling the Infinity Stones was not an easy task. The gems were
full of gamma rays. Anyone who held the stones needed a strong will to do
so. Thanos believed he was the chosen one to fulfill his “destiny.” He said,
“I'm the only one who knows that. At least I'm the only who has the will to
act on it.” He even sacrificed his beloved daughter Gamora in exchange for
the soul stone. “The hardest choice requires the strongest will.” Do Thanos's
words sound like a president who claimed he was the designated one to lead
his country to greatness again?
Donald Trump thought flagging a trade war could restore the trade balance
of the US. He could order his administration to severely penalize China.
Lifting import tariff rates from 0% to 25% on Chinese goods in a flash
caught the world off guard. Half a million factory workers were affected.
China was labeled a currency manipulator even though every-one knew the
country actually wanted a stronger rather than weaker currency. Trump's
trade measures hurt many American companies and US consumers. But he
did not care. He had a strong will like Thanos and he decisively went his
own way. “We reject globalism and embrace the doctrine of patriotism,” he
said, delivering his second address to the United Nations in November
2018.
At the same time, there are still believers in free trade. Germany, Canada,
Mexico, Korea, Japan, and other countries have risen to prosperity in the
past few decades. They prefer globalization of some sort. The G20 Summit
in Hamburg 2017 issued a heroic declaration to defend the prevailing
international arrangement: “Globalization and technological change have
contributed significantly to driving economic growth and raising living
standards across the globe. However, the gains from globalization have not
been shared widely enough. By bringing together developed and emerging
market economies, the G20 is determined to shape globalization to benefit
all people. Most importantly, we need to better enable our people to seize its
opportunities.”
China was the top winner in globalization. In 1979, the Middle Kingdom
decided to open up, fueling the world with a massive supply of labor. After
40 years of strong growth, the country became the production line for the
world, receiving orders from the US, Japan, and Europe. Its ability for mass
production was unchallengeable. The quality and technological content of
Chinese products improved rapidly in the past few years. It began to
develop its own brand. China became a prime target of Trump's new trade
policy.

Cryptocurrency and Its Role in the Us-China Trade War by Raymond Yeung