#Foreign Policy » Why Trade Wars Are Inevitable Comments Feed alternate alternate -- -- (BUTTON) Toggle display of website navigation Argument: Why Trade Wars Are Inevitable Why Trade Wars Are Inevitable... SHARE: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Print this -- -- Argument Why Trade Wars Are Inevitable -- Trump’s trade wars aren’t just about him or China—but global economic imbalances that the next U.S. administration will still have to address. -- -- imported capital. The trade war with China ultimately has little to do with Trump’s personal animosities or reelection strategy. -- -- stop: Because no other country was large enough to play this role—and no country wanted to—there was no replacement. Trade conflict was inevitable. That is why the trade war with China ultimately has little to do with Trump’s personal animosities or reelection strategy. It simply represents the most visible part of a much deeper global -- -- __________________________________________________________________ Today’s trade war is not really a conflict between the United States and China as countries, nor is it even a broader conflict between deficit countries and surplus countries. Rather, it is a conflict -- -- and rising debt. Reversing inequality and other distortions in income distribution in both the surplus and the deficit countries is therefore the only durable way to end the trade war. In the long run, future U.S. administrations will have to tackle income -- -- which banks and the owners of capital were able to benefit at the expense of the rest—was represented as a conflict between countries. It wasn’t a trade war then, and it isn’t now. Only when U.S. policymakers realize as much—and get ready to tackle income inequality—will they be able to head off the worst of the consequences. -- -- Michael Pettis is a senior fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy and a finance professor at Peking University. He is also the author, with Matthew C. Klein, of the forthcoming book Trade Wars Are Class Wars. Twitter: @michaelxpettis View -- -- View Comments Tags: China, Trade, trade protectionism, trade war, United States Foreign Policy Magazine Foreign Policy Magazine