The USA-China Trade War and the Interlinked World Economy
As with any matter of consequence, politicians count on either vapid sound bites or acute alarmism to get a reaction from the electorate; they do NOT want critical thinkers in the game that will find out the facts for themselves.
To understand a Trade War (and all that goes with it), you first have to have a basic grasp of a modern day economy. In older days, countries had static economies (where as the country itself provided most goods to its inhabitants.) Imports were viewed with a jaundiced eye as Nation States did whatever was necessary to protect their markets. It didn't matter what costs the consumer paid for this thinking as long as they only consumed what their country produced. For example, let's say Germany ran out of wheat. They would then have to take resources from somewhere else in their country to either grow more wheat or purchase more wheat. Growing would by far be the cheaper option because other wheat producing countries would be reluctant to part with their wheat crop. Either way though, Germany would bear the cost of the wheat shortage.
Around the end of WW II, more sensible economic thinking began to prevail. Why spend resources in producing something that could be imported more cheaply from somewhere else? Thus the Interlinked World Economy came to be. Things like wheat and oil and cattle and orange juice became commodities. if a country runs short of a commodity, it is easier to purchase that item because the places where the item is grown more often can make extra money providing that item to whoever wants to pay for it. The only drawback to such a model is that any extra purchase of a commodity will cause its prioce to rise and that cost will reverberate (travel through) the economic supply chain until it is offset by more production or availability. Now when Germany runs short of wheat, it buys more of that commodity but it causes the price to go higher. Until their extra need is offset by more production or lesser need from someone else, the price will remain at the elevated state.
Now that you have an idea of how a modern (Interlinked) economy works, the US - China Trade War can be looked at under a Critical Thinking Overlay.
Why is there a Trade War between China and the USA?
The People's Republic of China is not government by the people nor is it a Republic. It is a Left Wing Military Dictatorship and disobeying the powers that be there used to get you time in the rural areas. Farming was 'Re-education' in the proper Communist ways.
This mindset began to change in the 1990's. There were already enough Chinese to farm the land; why not have some political prisoners make goods for sale? Thus was born the largest Political Prisoner System in the World: The Laobang Gaizou (or The LaoGai for short). Entering this system was easy... but not leaving it. as the profits from LaoGai sale goods soared, so did the size of the prison system increase. Cheap plastic goods eventually became cheap technology components... especially electronic devices.
If prisoners are used to make components or devices while earning no wage, that means a country doing this can produce low-to-no overhead parts and easily undercut prices against competitors that have to pay their workers a wage. This isn't even remotely fair and while it wasn't paid much mind under Bush 43 or Obama, several US companies decided enough was enough and complained to the government. President Trump looked at the cheating from a business perspective and authorized the tariffs to offset this matter. The same thing happened when similar cheating was found regarding aluminum imports. once the cheating was neutralized, US production increased.
How has China reacted?
The USA and China do a delicate economic dance. China buys up US debt while the USA buys a lot of Chinese goods. China responded with 'tariffs' of their own. Rather than do so against imported US goods, they raised prices on exported goods instead. For companies heavily vested in Chinese products (like Wal-Mart), this might cost such places to raise prices to offset the higher cost of goods.
How does Russia figure into this matter?
They don't. Both Russia (and the USSR before them) have deprecated economies. The GDP of Texas is larger than Russia's. Russia neglected other parts of its economy in favor of military force so they lack the infrastructure needed to make China sized profits. Some examples of this: Russia used a brilliant political ploy to grab the Crimea. The purpose of doing so would be straight oil transshipment from places like Dagestan without having to pay another country for this service. Unfortunately for Russia, they don't have the needed infrastructure to transship the oil they have found. this degradation can be found all over their country. Shoddily built high rise apartments in Siberia are falling apart from disrepair and the harsh environment is in part to blame. Russia wants the people to leave Siberia but is having mixed success with that task. When Russia had an accident with a submarine, only the US and UK ha the Deep Sea salvage equipment needed to retrieve the sub and so on. The sanctions against Russia for grabbing the Crimea are in the form of loans and infrastructure material. Russia pays more for the first and has more difficulty buying the second. USA - Russia Trade is almost nonexistent because other countries can provide what Russia has with competitive pricing.
How can this Trade War be stopped?
It is tempting to place the blame on US companies who like cheap Chinese goods but manufacturing has to be a dynamic sort of thing in order to survive. The difference of one penny less an item can add up if several MILLION items are being ordered. This is why many manufacturing jobs are no longer in the USA. The higher Cost Of Living in the USA necessitates a higher wage so moving unskilled production to places with a lower COL keeps prices in check.
On the other hand, using Low-To-No overhead prison labor to produce goods is simply cheating. Massive sales of these goods at undercut prices is called dumping and in some cases, prices rise after a 'dumping' maneuver is successful at driving the competition out of business. The USA would be in a stronger position if it didn't carry such a heavy load of debt. Blame can be placed on both sides of this matter and both sides have to find a solution. Until they do, the consumer might wind up paying higher prices for goods.
Timothy Linnomme