US Trading On Thin Ice

As Trump escalates the trade war with China, the key question is what constitutes theft of intellectual property

- Latha Jishnu

NOTHING IS as unfair as global trade. The rules are rigged against developing countries and the world’s poor, and yet, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the best we have to regulate international transactions in goods and services, given that the regional and bilateral free trade agreements pushed by rich nations, are even more predatory in nature. The irony is that US President Donald Trump has been accusing other nations, primarily China, of “unfair policies and practices” as he escalates the trade war by imposing new tariffs of US $200 billion on Chinese exports to the US.