America Is Funding Its Greatest Military Threat.

• Author: Mastel, G.

Much of the discussion of the Trump tariffs also misses another "big picture." China has a systematic pattern of engaging in mercantilist trade practices. It has also become a serious diplomatic and military rival for the United States. The U.S. trade deficit with China bolsters the Chinese economy and in so doing bolsters the Chinese state and supports China's military ambitions. With the exception of North Korea and Iran, there is simply no worse place in the world for U.S. trade and investment dollars to flow than China. From a global diplomatic and security perspective, it would be much better if those dollars instead flowed to democracies in North and South America, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere.

That would be true even if in the end the U.S. global trade...