The excessive and aggressive tariff policies targeting China, the EU, Canada, Mexico and other countries, reimposed by the US administration, have heightened trade tensions and unraveled the global economic order.
While framed as a strategy to address the alleged trade imbalances, bring back the manufacturing, protect American interest and reclaim economic dominance, the policies are by nature regressive and will backfire.
Historical precedents and ground realities suggest that tariffs unilaterally imposed by a major power will not only fail to restore the American greatness but also deepen global economic fractures, undermine world stability, harm US consumers and businesses, and risk exacerbating America’s relative decline.
Drawing lessons from the previous trade war and in view of the broader implications of the impending one, it becomes more evident that tariffs are not solving problems but making more troubles, a flawed option out of ultra-nationalistic considerations, going against trade liberalization and economic globalization.
The new tariffs of twenty percent imposed on China this time are “justified” by claims about China’s indulgence in the US opioid crisis. It’s unsubstantiated and will crumble given further scrutiny.
In total disregard of China’s strict export controls on fentanyl-related chemical precursors and substances, and its enhanced cooperation with the American authorities, the US. administration has weaponized the fentanyl issue to punish China.
Such shifting blame game echoes the sayings that “one is getting sick while medicating the other for treatment,” and “one is trying to cure his internal disease with external treatment.”
Narcotics once inflicted appalling sufferings on the Chinese nation, causing wounds that are still keenly felt by the people. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese government has relentlessly fought the illegal drug trade and worked tirelessly to solve the problem.
The root cause of fentanyl lies in the US. itself. Out of common sense and friendship with the American people, China has helped the US deal with the menace. In recent years, China has attached great importance to tightening control over fentanyl-related substances, and adopted integrated measures such as expanding the list of controlled substances, strengthening regular supervision, stepping up inspection and seizure, and implementing innovative controls.
China has put in place the toughest and most comprehensive counter-narcotics policies in today’s world. It has struck hard against manufacturing, smuggling and trafficking of fentanyl-related substances and chemicals.
Committed to building a global community with a shared future for humanity, China rigorously meets its international obligations, and adheres to the principle of shared responsibilities among all countries for drug control.
China firmly upholds the existing international drug control system, fully participates in international cooperation, and makes its due contribution to the global governance of drugs.
The US Administration, short of appreciation, has instead pointed fingers at China and tried to make it a scapegoat, which is tantamount to returning good with evil, and repaying kindness with enmity.
Fentanyl is a flimsy excuse for the US. to impose tariffs on Chinese imports. The law of economics and trade dictates that the tariffs imposed on rest of the world will ultimately turn out to be a tax on American households and industries, adding more pain on US. taxpayers.
Tariffs are not paid by foreign exporters but by domestic importers, hence the consumers. As seen during the last trade war launched by the US, the tariffs cost the average American household approximately $1,300 per annum.
This new tariffs would exacerbate inflationary pressures and disproportionately burden the low and middle-income families already grappling with rising living costs. American people will raise the hue and cry.
The US tariffs also undermine international law. It violates the World Trade Organization rules, particularly the principle of most-favoured-nation treatment, which prohibits discriminatory trade practices among member states.
By circumventing and undoing WTO dispute mechanisms, the US erodes the credibility of the international body it helped establish, and pushes other countries toward alternative arrangements. The European Union, for example, has shown little or no appetite for the US.-led efforts while trying to navigate its own economic challenges.
The US Tariffs represent confrontation over cooperation, and are a testament to the philosophy of “might-makes-right.” implementing further, the tariffs will not only hamper the normal flows of international trade and disrupt the global economic governance, but also weaken America’s ability to rally strength to solve its domestic quagmires, which require a multi-pronged approach rather than a unilateral step.
Imposing tariffs alone can’t fix the American economic woes. China has made leapfrog progress in cutting-edge industries like 5G technology, quantum computing, and renewable energy, while the US is lagging behind in infrastructure, labour training and skills development, and many other fields. It is estimated that narrowing America’s infrastructure gap alone would require an investment of $2.6 trillion over a decade, a fraction of what the tariffs war cost the US taxpayers.
Tariffs also stifle the US innovation. Tariffs on Chinese tech imports have raised costs for the US Start-ups and manufacturers, and slowed down adoption of automation and green technologies critical for keeping competitive. The new tariffs war, on the US part, is an illusion of winning a zero-sum game.
This narrative defines trade as a contest where one side’s gain means the loss of the other, which ignores the mutual benefits of globalized trade. For decades, the China-US trade has lowered consumer prices, fueled tech innovation, and supported creating millions of jobs in both countries. The raging tariffs war, if unchecked in timely fashion, will eventually dilute synergies between the two countries.
The tariffs’ legacy is also a cautionary tale. In a world where supply chains are more intertwined and globalized than ever before, and economic and trade activities become increasingly diversified, the protectionist policies, including the tariff imposition, and the weaponization of trade, will get trapped in a cul-de-sac, and to no avail.
A nation’s economic comeback and greatness isn’t earned through stopgap transactions like the unilateral tariff imposition, but through informed policy making, smart strategic posturing, alignment of interests, collaboration, and adaptability. The 21st century demands open policies and open mind-sets that look outward, not inward or backward, a lesson made painfully clear through human’s endeavors towards a shared destiny.
As the Chinese saying goes, “If one’s action fails, look for the reason within oneself.” The US should go over what has actually happened: What has it achieved from tariff and trade wars these years? Has its trade deficit widened or narrowed? Has its manufacturing become more competitive or less competitive? Has US inflation gone up or down? Has the life of its people got better or worse? China-US business relations are based on two-way and reciprocal interactions. Cooperation will bring about mutual benefit and win-win. If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, China is ready to fight till the end.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is Consul General of the P.R. China in Lahore
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