The USA and China. The return to protectionism? (PDF)

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2021 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 1,7, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: Since 2018, protectionism has made its way into global politics. This paper analyzes what has happened since then and the consequences of the trade war between the US and China unleashed by Donald Trump's administration. The trade war is examined from a game-theoretical perspective and furthermore, an assessment regarding future implications is also given.

In 2018, the administration of then-president Donald Trump put tariffs on Chinese products. This has provoked a backlash by the Chinese government in form of tariffs on American products, and following measures and countermeasures conducted by both sides quickly escalated into a trade war. "Trade wars are good, and easy to win". These were the words president Trump confidently tweeted in March 2018. This paper is going to take a closer look at a situation which turns out to be a lot more complex than this tweet implicates. Trade war between the two biggest economies on earth unsurprisingly has a lot of consequences which are going to be examined in more detail. Furthermore, this paper will show that implications of this conflict exceed economic boundaries.