Episode 29: Intro to Opium War, US-China Trade War, and Modern Global Trade

In 2018, President Trump pulled out of the TPP. The Trump Administration promoted protectionism and it no longer wanted to negotiate trade, among small groups of multiple countries, rather insisting on a bilateral front of negotiations taking place between only two countries. President Trump believed that their current international trade agreements were removing jobs from workers in the United States and outsourcing jobs to other countries such as India and China. As a result, President Trump decided to follow through on his promise to bring back jobs by imposing tariffs on other countries, most notably China, in an attempt to decrease Chinese imports, therefore, decreasing competition for domestic companies and workers. References 1. “The Opium Wars in China - Asia Pacific Curriculum.” 2019, https://asiapacificcurriculum.ca/sites/default/files/2019-02/Opium%20Wars%20-%20Background%20Reading.pdf. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019. 2. “The First Opium War: The Anglo-Chinese war of 1839-1842. Essay by Peter C. Perdue - Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” 2011, https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/opium_wars_01/ow1_essay04.html. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019. 3. “Unequal Treaties with China - ENHE.” 2016, https://ehne.fr/en/article/europe-europeans-and-world/europe-and-legal-regulation-international-relations/unequal-treaties-china. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019. 4. “5 Elite Families Who Made Their Fortune in the Opium Trade - AlterNet.” 5 June, 2015, https://www.alternet.org/2015/06/5-elite-families-fortunes-opium-trade/. Accessed 23 Aug. 2019. 5. “The Signing and Sealing of the Treaty of Nanking by F.G. Moon - Brown University Library.” 1846, https://library.brown.edu/cds/catalog/catalog.php?verb=render&id=1249001214271904. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019. 6. “Destroying Chinese War Junks by E. Duncan - National Maritime Museum, London.” 1843, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destroying_Chinese_war_junks,_by_E._Duncan_(1843).jpg. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019. 7. “Fast Boat or Smuggler by Captain E. Belcher - Visualizing Cultures.” 1843, https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/opium_wars_01/ow1_gallery/pages/1843_belcher_238_FastBoat.htm. Accessed 24 Aug. 2019. 8. “As trade war escalates, Chinese remember ‘national humiliation’ - Los Angeles Times.” 13 May, 2019, https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-china-trade-war-tariffs-colonialism-humiliation-20190513-story.html. Accessed 25 Aug. 2019. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/pacific-atrocities-education/support