Peter Espeut | Cockroaches and ants

“May you live in exciting times” is alleged to be an old Chinese curse, although no Chinese source can be found for the expression, and there is no equivalent expression in any Chinese language. Some people enjoy excitement, and so living in exciting times may be just what they long for. But exciting times are usually times of trouble, and although the cut and thrust of dealing with trouble can be exciting, people can get hurt in the process.

Old Jamaican proverb: “Cockroach don’t business in fowl fight”. Old Cambodian proverb: “In a battle between elephants, the ants get squashed”. Same difference!

I suppose Jamaica should be happy that Trump’s United States imposed tariffs of only ten per cent upon our exports to them; we might think that this is because, according to US Special Envoy for Latin America Mauricio Claver-Carone, “Jamaica is probably our most like-minded partner in the Caribbean”. And maybe we gave US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week the answers he wanted to hear, especially with respect to China.

But according to Trump’s “Chart of Tariffs” which he revealed on Wednesday, almost all our CARICOM fellows find themselves in the same position: according to Trump, all except Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana impose a ten per cent tariff on US imports into their economies, and will have a 10 per cent tariff imposed on their imports into the US market; so to use his words, Trump’s action is “reciprocal”, and we receive no special treatment. Trinidad & Tobago imposes tariffs of 12 per cent on US imports, yet the US will still only impose 10 per cent tariffs on their exports. Trump claims that Guyana imposes a 76 per cent tariff on US imports, so imposition by Trump of a 38 per cent tariff on Guyanese imports is “very kind”, again to use Trump’s words. “We are being very kind. We’re kind people, very kind,” Trump said on the day after April Fool’s Day.

RELATIVELY EQUAL

Reciprocity is only just and ethical when the two parties involved are relatively equal. Metropolitan countries exploited their colonies to extract mineral and/or agricultural wealth; these territories were not allowed to produce anything to compete with the metropole (e.g., Jamaica was not allowed to refine our sugar; if the cane stalks could have been put on a boat to England for processing, we would have no sugar factories in Jamaica). When having colonies was no longer convenient, we were given our “independence”. To expect new nations like Jamaica disadvantaged for centuries to compete on the same footing as metropolitan countries is unreasonable and immoral.

Developing countries (really underdeveloped countries, for in this unequal world no “developing” country has ever become “developed”) will be trampled and crushed under “reciprocity”, and will be early casualties in a trade war between the US and China (or is it between the US and the “Rest of the World”?)

But several countries challenge Trump’s assessments of the level of tariffs on US imports they charge. By Trump’s assessment New Zealand imposes a 20 per cent tariff on US imports, so the US has imposed 10 per cent in the spirit of reciprocity. “We don’t have a 20 per cent tariff rate,” said trade minister Todd McClay, adding that New Zealand was “a very low tariff regime” and the correct figure was below the 10 per cent baseline rate applied by the US to all countries.

SPIRIT OF RECIPROCITY

By Trump’s assessment Australia imposes a 10 per cent tariff on US imports, so the US has imposed 10 per cent in the spirit of reciprocity; but Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said: “President Trump referred to reciprocal tariffs. A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10 per cent”.

Albanese explains that the US and Australia have a free trade agreement and the US has a US$2-to-US$1 trade surplus with Australia. “This is not the act of a friend”, says the Australian prime minister.

But the real issue may not be tariffs. Trump says the United States bought US$3 billion of Australian beef last year, but Australia will not accept US beef imports (why should they if they produce more than enough for their own use?) Trump’s “beef” is about Australia’s “non-tariff barriers”. Albanese said the ban on raw US beef was for biosecurity reasons.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) rules allow countries to restrict imports for phytosanitary reasons. The US negotiated those WTO rules to suit itself, but rankles when others use it against them. Trump seeks to strong-arm beef-exporter Australia into importing US beef.

The US imposes high tariffs on Jamaican rum to protect Puerto Rican rum sales. The next thing they will try to do is to force Jamaica to import Puerto Rican rum! Bacardi, anyone?

One of Australia’s outposts is little Norfolk Island in the South Pacific. Trump announced a 29 per cent tariff on the exports to the US of little Norfolk Island, which has a population of around 2,000 people and an economy that revolves around tourism. “To my knowledge, we do not export anything to the United States,” Norfolk Island Administrator George Plant, the Australian government’s representative on the island, told the AP Thursday. “We don’t charge tariffs on anything. I can’t think of any non-tariff barriers that would be in place either, so we’re scratching our heads here.”

Many – including myself – feel that the WTO regulations – and before them the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) – were unfair to small countries like Jamaica, who were forbidden to protect locally-produced goods by imposing tariffs on foreign imports, but were forced to open up our markets to US imports by one-sided rules. If Trump disrupts the world economy and destroys the WTO, maybe that dark cloud might have a silver lining for us. But not for long: it seems that our future will be filled with pressure from Trump’s US to toe the line as we work to “Make America Great Again”.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com