In the grand scheme of things, the state of international political affairs across the planet is quite poor. Indeed, since the 2016 presidential election occurred in the United States, it appears that the very nature of politics and the balance of power across the globe has shifted significantly. This shift has become even more apparent over the last several years and the presidency of Joe Biden, who defeated the former 45th President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Since then, many worrisome developments have occurred on the world stage that have created increased tensions and turmoil across the planet. In Europe, war still rages in the east between Ukraine and Russia. That conflict has been ongoing for over two calendar years, and there have been an estimated half a million casualties thus far. The Russians have allegedly lost over 150,000 soldiers.
America increasingly appears like a nation on the decline. Economically, the nation’s middle class has long been struggling as wages have flatlined and many stable industrial and manufacturing jobs have been lost to automation of through outsourcing. Since the early 2000’s, the nation of China, a communist superpower has increasingly dominated trade and manufacturing. China has expanded its economic capabilities greatly, and the United States has lost serious ground. China has expanded its trade surplus to new heights in recent days; a recent article by the New York Times demonstrated that the nation has now reached a trade surplus, rising in May 2024 at the quickest rate in more than a year.
America and much of the western world continues to remain at a serious disadvantage economically as China continues to flood national markets with products. Low tariffs have long been the norm post-world war two; leaders had hoped this would increase cooperation and result in peace. This may not be the case; as tensions flair, China has threatened to implement Agricultural tariffs on European imports to China.
