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American recidivism must prompt ASEAN to future-proof itself
Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) attempt to "restore" American dominance through economic protectionism and geopolitical confrontation mirrors Odysseus’ futile attempt to reclaim an old order that no longer exists.
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Ready to go: Rows of newly produced Honda cars are seen in this undated photo. Over 2,000 Honda cars from Thailand, which are the first batches of cars to enjoy zero percent import duty under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), have been imported to Vietnam. (nld.vn /File photo)
W
hile tariffs are within the sovereign right of any country, the looseness by which the United States is applying them on neighbors like Canada and Mexico is a certain loss of economic discipline.
The US no longer wants to be the first market of last resort. As and when the world wants to sell anything to the US, the latter wants it only when it is made in America.
This logic of course flies in the face of David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage and international trade. When the world trades, a complex web of trade relationships will bring down the prices of goods.
US President Donald Trump, however, deems this liberal commercial order is not operating in the advantage of the US. In a more damning manner, Trump does not want the US to don this role anymore. Why? Because no institutions can seemingly protect the welfare of the American workers.
Interestingly, Trump is not completely erroneous either. The only institution to survive the end of the League of Nations in 1919 was the International Labor Organization (ILO).
It was then followed by the formation of the United Nations in 1945. Notwithstanding the long history of the ILO, in the mind of Trump, American blue-collar workers have often been at the receiving end of globalization.
When the US trades too much, jobs have slipped out of the sieve of the American economy. Through tariffs, US manufacturing and industrialization can return.
