Giving Compass' Take:

• The authors provide more information on the current trade wars and the risks that come with the U.S. decisions regarding tariffs and foreign policy. 

• What are the gains for the U.S. if we win this trade war? The authors think that the odds of the U.S. winning vary as do opinions: depending on who you ask, answers will range from "probable, possible, unlikely, out of the question or irrelevant".

• Read about the impact that trade agreements will have on global food markets. 

Depending on whom you ask, the odds of the United States winning its trade war with China and the rest of the world is either probable, possible, unlikely, out of the question or irrelevant. Economists generally agree, however, that American consumers and most companies will be hurt, particularly if it continues much longer.

Amid the escalating threats and retaliations by a host of countries across the world, it’s easy to get lost. To better understand the issues at stake in a trade war, we turned to articles from our archive.

  • What is a tariff? A tariff, according to Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, a professor of economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is simply a tax levied on an imported good.
  •  Recent history The initial salvos in the current global trade dispute came in March, when the Trump administration slapped tariffs as high as 25 percent on steel and aluminum.
  • Trade deficits and iPhones: A driving force behind the Trump tariffs is the trade deficit and the president’s view that China and other countries are taking advantage of the U.S. by exporting far more than they are importing.
  • Trump’s ‘America first’ trade policy “America first” trade policy, which promotes protectionism and the notion that unilateralism in trade is good for the United States, explains Charles Hankla, an associate professor of political science at Georgia State University. It also assumes that the U.S. can do as it pleases on trade, and others will have to follow.
  • Unintended consequences While the aim of launching a trade war was to promote U.S. companies and protect American jobs, there are already signs the opposite is happening.

Read the full article about trade wars by Nicole Zelniker and Bryan Keogh at The Conversation