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Has anybody ever „won“ a trade war?

by qznc 2y ago

cakealert 2y ago
Trade war is a set of trade related policies, winning a trade war is have a set of such policies which benefits your country. It doesn't even have to benefit your trade. If you can cause more economic damage to your adversary than it can cause to you, then you can prevent the elevation of your adversary into a more significant threat. So winning is certainly possible, especially because it can end in an actual war where one side will win.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
  I understand how you can win a trade war against a geopolitical adversary, sure. What I don't understand is how you can win one against a neutral or friendly country. Even if you can cause 10 or 100 times more economic damage than the other guys can cause to you, isn't the small bit of damage you receive strictly worse than not receiving it by not having a trade war?
  - fallingknife 2y ago
    The win condition in that case would be that the leverage that being able to cause more damage than you take allows you to negotiate a better deal. It's like winning any other war. Both sides take damage during the war, but the winner is able to achieve its objective at the end.
- Zigurd 2y ago
  This is true in the abstract. But finding an example would require calling Russia sanctions a "trade war." More correctly, it is an embargo, sanctions, etc.
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> Has anybody ever „won“ a trade war? Yes, third parties. "The most prominent trade war of the 20th century was ignited by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff act of 1930, which imposed steep tariffs on roughly 20,000 imported goods. Led by Canada, America’s trading partners retaliated with tariffs on United States exports, which plunged 61 percent from 1929 to 1933. The tariffs were repealed in 1934. ... Professor Palen cited the late-19th-century trade wars between Canada and the United States, which caused a precipitous drop in Canadian exports to America and led Canada to seek export markets in Britain. 'The British Empire was the winner,' he said. Another 'big winner' from a trade war it was not involved in, Professor Palen said, was Soviet Russia, which was largely shunned by Western trading partners after the 1917 revolution and the rise of communism, and was desperate for hard currency. The Smoot-Hawley tariffs, Professor Palen said, caused countries like Italy to abandon American imports and resume trading with the Soviets, forging trade links that persist today."
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/business/tariff-trump-trade-wars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/business/tariff-trump-tra...

Has anybody ever „won“ a trade war?

by qznc 2y ago

Has anybody ever „won“ a trade war?

Trade war is a set of trade related policies, winning a trade war is have a set of such policies which benefits your country. It doesn't even have to benefit your trade. If you can cause more economic damage to your adversary than it can cause to you, then you can prevent the elevation of your adversary into a more significant threat. So winning is certainly possible, especially because it can end in an actual war where one side will win.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
SpicyLemonZest 2y ago
I understand how you can win a trade war against a geopolitical adversary, sure. What I don't understand is how you can win one against a neutral or friendly country. Even if you can cause 10 or 100 times more economic damage than the other guys can cause to you, isn't the small bit of damage you receive strictly worse than not receiving it by not having a trade war?
- fallingknife 2y ago
  The win condition in that case would be that the leverage that being able to cause more damage than you take allows you to negotiate a better deal. It's like winning any other war. Both sides take damage during the war, but the winner is able to achieve its objective at the end.
Zigurd 2y ago
This is true in the abstract. But finding an example would require calling Russia sanctions a "trade war." More correctly, it is an embargo, sanctions, etc.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

> Has anybody ever „won“ a trade war? Yes, third parties. "The most prominent trade war of the 20th century was ignited by the Smoot-Hawley Tariff act of 1930, which imposed steep tariffs on roughly 20,000 imported goods. Led by Canada, America’s trading partners retaliated with tariffs on United States exports, which plunged 61 percent from 1929 to 1933. The tariffs were repealed in 1934. ... Professor Palen cited the late-19th-century trade wars between Canada and the United States, which caused a precipitous drop in Canadian exports to America and led Canada to seek export markets in Britain. 'The British Empire was the winner,' he said. Another 'big winner' from a trade war it was not involved in, Professor Palen said, was Soviet Russia, which was largely shunned by Western trading partners after the 1917 revolution and the rise of communism, and was desperate for hard currency. The Smoot-Hawley tariffs, Professor Palen said, caused countries like Italy to abandon American imports and resume trading with the Soviets, forging trade links that persist today."

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/business/tariff-trump-trade-wars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/business/tariff-trump-tra...