I can’t help to look at Trump’s trade war and think this is a unneccessary war of mutually assured destruction. It really is a program made out of madness and discredited ideas, namely that the world economy is a zero sum game, and that all the money and value that exists in world today is all the money and value tomorrow. It’s the idea that the only way for a country to gain is take from another.

It’s not to say things weren’t broken. We should take a hard look at many of our policies that flood our country with cheap disposable consumer goods, considered their climate impacts and all the non-renewable resources and toxic waste produced. We should also consider what the future of our economy is – and how we can put a broad variety of people back to work providing for the needs for humanity today. We shouldn’t be going back to dated technology of yesteryear, but instead look towards innovative ways of producing, using and managing energy.

Tarrifs and businesses taxes more generally have the ability to redirect business and commerce flows into ways that are beneficial and productive of society, reducing waste, pollution and improving people’s lives. However, we have to be stragetitc, and use them in ways that benefit all Americans, rather then just as a blanket tax on industry to sop up revenue.

China is the manufacturing hub for the world, it has built the modern infrastructure for developing devices our country long ago abandoned and is unlikely to develop again. That said, the US should be promoting it’s own economic growth through it’s strengths and not developing industries that don’t have a future. We should regulate what’s being imported, and tax or ban harmful products. We should invest heavily in recreation, communities, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, that promotes real neeeds for local communities, rather then distant export markets.

Things are broken. We need a fundamental critique and efforts to change things, and stop saying the status quo is good enough. But we shouldn’t be blowing up the world and burning up the international trading system, just because the status quo is harmful and disfunctional.