We may or may not start a trade war tomorrow. We shall see whichever way the wind blows between Trump's ears. His ostensible reason for launching this trade war and why it's at least somewhat popular among people who don't really understand how international trade works (which, to be fair, is really complicated) is that we need more manufacturing jobs in the US.
As Paul Krugman explains, manufacturing jobs have been declining for reasons that have only partly to do with things like the lack of tariffs or the strength of the dollar. As industries become more technologically advanced, fewer workers produce more goods. He makes the apt comparison to farming. We have a tiny fraction of the workforce in agriculture, but we still produce a lot of food.
It would be nice if journalists stopped trying to sanewash this nonsense and realize that Trump wants a trade war because he's a belligerent asshole, not because he wants to "make America great again."
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