At Project Syndicate Brahma Chellaney reviews some cases in which China has used trade as a lever in accomplishing non-economic objectives:
NEW DELHI – China denies mixing business with politics, yet it has long used trade to punish countries that refuse to toe its line. China’s recent heavy-handed economic sanctioning of South Korea, in response to that country’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, was just the latest example of the Chinese authorities’ use of trade as a political weapon.
Like war trade is policy by other means. The United States has been using trade to accomplish non-economic objectives for well over a century. Why should China be any exception?
A trade war is generally preferable to a shooting war.
I’ve long advocated that we start raising tariffs on countries that trade with North Korea, for instance.
It’s one more tool in the toolbox, and a less lethal one at that.
As you’ve said, it’s still a war even if we’re not fighting. The “free” traders still seem to have the reigns and as long as that is the case, the US won’t use trade as a coercive tools as much as it could.