It's not dumb because the goal isn't to actually to help American manufacturers compete, if that's the goal they'd at minimum also give out subsidies at the same time. Their goal is simply doing what anglos are biologically predisposed to do: take the wealth of others by force,
I mean the disparity in economic power makes such an endeavour completely stupid. US doesn't have the means to fight directly and openly. This little stunt will just get US punished harshly economically.
I think their actual goal is more simple, its to let Trump increase his authoritarian control, potentially later become president for life and maybe even establish a political dynasty.
it's how they obtained all their wealth and the only way they know how to obtain wealth, it's why they's desperate for trade deals, practically begging China to pick up their calls, and has to bluff tariffs that'll destroy their own economy in the desperate hope of coercing wealth from others.
But US won't get any wealth from this. US doesn't have the products to sell, even if they did, the quality and prices would be laughable. Imagine buying shoes from a factory staffed in US.
The fatal mistake US made is believing China is still playing defensive, that China will prioritize minimizing own loses over doing damage to America and China is aiming for deterrence over destruction. The kind of disproportionate and asymmetrical responses, from export control on obscure but critical materials, to investment bans in specialized industries, to precision sanctions on critical supply chains, these aren't high profile theatrics designed for headlines, these are all designed to do maximal damage to American industry while hiding behind technical barriers that will prompt minimal defence from America's tech illiterate leaders.
It is not a fatal mistake if the point is to get hit. Trump clearly stopped caring about overall US economy. In fact as China kills US' "crown jewels" of tech and science, those are the very opposition against Trump's populism. Trump's sweatshop fetish makes sense when you consider that in fascist countries, the hard labor workers tend to be the most reactionary and most unable to understand how the regime controls them.
Just like in the USSR when Perestroika and Yeltsin came, there were many USSR world nationalists who were coping that this was 4D chess to finally bring the west down. They couldn't come to terms that their leader simply is a selfish pos that sold out their country's interests for some stock market inside trades and personal glory.
