The United States leads a trade war

US President Donald Trump wars against his "partners" in the North Atlantic Trade Treaty, Canada and Mexico; another, with the European Union; and another, with China.

In a tweet these days, Trump says that "when a country (the United States) loses billions of dollars in trade with virtually every country with which it has business The trade wars are good and easy to win. "

The Asian giant accounts for most of the US trade deficit ($ 376,000 million out of nearly US $ 600,000 million), so the Trump administration Does not stop imposing tariffs on Chinese products for millions.

On the other hand, the Republican leader launched another anti-diplomatic bomb Sunday, pointing out that the Union European is an "enemy" of the states United said it during a televised interview during his recent visit to the Old Continent

"We have a lot of enemies. I think the European Union is an enemy, because of what it does to us in the trade. You would not think of the EU, but it's a rival ", the leader of the world's largest power answered the question of what he considered the main rivals

Frightened the world market, causing a financial turbulence of proportions.For recently, there have been decreases in stocks and commodities, such as oil and soy.

But that is This phenomenon starts when a country takes measures to restrict the entry of one or more products imported from another country or from another country. A group of nations.

These measures can range from raising tariffs to prohibiting the importation of a product. imported goods from abroad is known as "protectionism."

As a result of this policy, the nations similar retaliatory measures, which leads to new measures. "It's kind of an action-reaction-action-reaction between countries," says Simon Lester, a researcher at the Center for Trade Policy Studies, a think tank. Washington-based international trade

"It's a kind of eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth: I'm going to do what's equivalent to what you do for me." have done and if you do me more, I will do my best to make you miserable and make you more than what you've done me ", comments.

Historically, protectionism, ideology opposed to free trade, coincided with the rise of the regimes, the nationalists, for whom the international scenario is seen as a game in which the strongest victories, in which dominates the logic of belligerency.

It is believed that Nowadays globalization, this process of intensification of interdependencies, homogenization on a planetary scale, maybe it is going through its worst moment. is because the idea of ​​commercial openness is defeated by supporters of nationalism, as c & # 39; is the case of Trump.

The current scenario worries because what the economic history of trade wars teaches is that, very often, they end up in armed conflict and sometimes generalized.

Economic protectionism, indeed, was one of the reasons that sparked world wars in the 20th century.