Thanks for expressing your opinion, Spike. My purpose with these articles is to present the economic theory and let you question and decide for yourself.

My view, from an economics perspective, is that the trade war could have been avoided by not adopting any protectionist measures at all. Whether it should have been avoided is something that I have left open for readers, because that question is not my primary concern. Cue the choice of words in the title of the article.

So, I appreciate your taking the time to answer that question, but I hope you also do realize that nowhere have I advocated one stance over the other. The better part of my article focuses on explaining the economics part, without alluding to any of the current ongoings in the world.

That aside, because you mention it, I very well understand fair trade but definitely not the need for trade wars. As this column puts it,

“Trump might be calling for nations to tear down their trade walls, but so far, he has managed to get other countries to make the existing walls higher.”