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I want to start this out by saying this is not an endorsement of the current Trump administration and trade policy but instead an explanation of why he is doing what he is doing, why what he says or tweets or what headline your read doesn’t matter, and why this will likely continue regardless of what party holds the White House.
America, has been in a silent depression for well over 50 years and has only accelerated in the last 20 years post the Great Financial Crisis and subsequent QE from the Federal reserve. I want to share how the financialization and de-industrialization of America has hollowed out the middle class creating the largest wealth gap in U.S. history, through currency debasement and the exploitation of the global reserve currency status to benefit from cheap labor in developing countries and how that is now coming to an end.
US AVERAGE HOURLY WAGE / GOLD
Gold is the best way to look at purchasing power as it’s the only constant in our current fiat currency system because the supply is finite and it’s value proposition never changes. Gold has been and always will be a shiny yellow rock. Now, if we look at how many shiny rocks you can buy by working for 1 hour, that number has been completely eroded since 1971, and again since China was introduced into the WTO in 2001 and we began to really amplify the globalization of trade and rely on cheap labor from developing countries. 55% of Americans work an hourly wage, consistently losing purchasing power over the last five decades. I think adding the timestamps gives important context to this chart.
SPX/GOLD
Now that we established gold as our base measurement of purchasing power if we look at how the SP500 has performed relative to gold you can see we are well off the highs from the .com bubble. The index has only grown if you look at it against a depreciating currency but in terms of purchasing power we have not actually ever recovered.
THE DEBT BURDEN
The last 2 images show the debt burden on the US, which has grown to become the biggest problem we have financially as a country. Debt to gdp has reached levels we haven’t seen since world war 2 but we are financing that debt at much, much higher costs while government revenues to pay that debt has struggled to keep up. The current system relies on ever expanding debt and the dollar staying the king currency. As long as we can continue to hold that reserve status and export our inflation and import cheap manufacturing the train keeps on chugging.
THE CHINA ISSUE
After years of offshoring and hollowing out the middle class we have given China an extreme advantage over us and essentially the world with a monopoly on production and manufacturing. China owns 50% of us pharmaceutical ingredients and production, 60-70% of the rare earth mineral production, 77% of the battery supply chain, 50% of manufacturing of electronics including semiconductors, and much more. At this point our reliance on China has become as national security threat. We are desperately trying to avoid this emperor has no clothes situation where we have all this debt but nothing to back it. Americas, and frankly the rest of the world, reliance on cheap labor and globalization has handed over a monopoly on production and manufacturing leaving all developed nations extremely vulnerable and in desperate need to deglobalize and reshore industry. This is a trend that will continue regardless of who is in office because the current path is, and will continue to be, completely unsustainable.
COVID AND THE END OF FREE MONEY
Covid was the when the veil slipped. The era of free money and infinite QE was over because we had a new issue that we hadn’t had in a very long time, inflation. QE only works if you have low inflation and a way to export that inflation to other countries through trade. When Covid locked down the entire global trade system we no longer had that privilege and we were forced to stomach the results of printing money for the first time in a very long time. We experienced the quickest rate cut and subsequent rate hike in history all with debt levels reaching historic levels. This marked the start of the deleveraging process and the beginning of the loss of faith in our institutions. We were told repeatedly that inflation was transitory and it wasn’t. Then we saw the feds panicked reaction to the reality that inflation was sticky. The bond market revolted and now almost every G7 nation, most notably Japan, has lost control of the long end of the curve or the long dated bond yields. The curtain on QE is closed, the show is over.
TLDR
Americas reliance on cheap debt, the abuse of the dollar, and the exploitation of cheap labor in developing nations, is ending and all current and future policy will be a scramble to reset this system. The world is not going back to how it used to be. This time is different.

Chinas has NEVER follow any trade agreement since they joined WTO 25 years ago.. Why should they start with it now?

Politics aside, China has never really kept to any trade agreements. It doesn't follow any WTO rules, or any other rules of international court or law either. And so far, it has gotten away with it because no other country is actually doing anything about them. International courts and treaties are more of a suggestion than something to abide by. Hell, they haven't even curbed fentanyl precursor sales to drug cartels.
The US is basically the only country with the balls to do anything about it, even if its going to cause them to loose shoot themselves in the foot. While I may not agree with the tariffs he put on every other country, I do agree in principle, of trying to get fair trade agreements with China, because right now, doing business in China is inherently unfair, since you can't own land or rights and even have to share tech, and they don't respect copyrights, but it isn't the same when their companies do business in other countries.
That being said, I'm fine with re-empowering China if it means I don't have to pay over 30% tariffs for my imports. Low tech simple consumer product manufacturing were never coming back to the US anyways (profit margins were never worth building domestically, only higher quality precision equipment was the US's forte, like airplane parts).
Whether we get things back cheap again, or the tariffs go back up and we have to source from more expensive other countries and China's economy gets another set back, it doesn't matter.

In 2001, CCP-China joined the WTO, with hopes it would integrate globally and reform. Instead, it’s grown wealthier while the U.S. faces challenges. The Chinese people, distinct from the ruling party, lack a voice in their system. So, is CCP-China’s WTO role working?
**The Impact:**
* U.S. trade deficit with CCP-China: $400B+ yearly.
* 3.4M U.S. jobs lost.
* Tech theft costing $600B annually.
**What’s Happening?**
* Companies drawn by low costs, only to lose tech.
* Products copied, competitors outpriced.
* Global projects like Belt and Road: Aid or control?
**What Else?**
* 23 U.S. complaints against CCP-China for rule-breaking.
* Loans burdening poorer nations.
* Control over key infrastructure.
This feels less like fair trade and more like a strategic game. Tariffs have pressured CCP-China, but the WTO hasn’t enforced accountability. Should CCP-China stay in the WTO? Could free nations trade better alone?

Ist doch egal. Halten die sich eh nicht dran / die wollen doch eh aus der WTO raus.

Was sagt denn die WTO zu diskriminierenden Steuern?

TACO violated the trade act with Canada and Mexico, both the USMCA and the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), of which all three countries are members.