In no realm does the US consider Japan, Germany, or Singapore a rival. China is the only “rival” in there. The other countries don’t have the actual quantity of people or land size to be an economic rival. At best they could have a higher standard of living based on PPP or GDP per capita, but not anything that would overtake the US. You’re trying to turn a simple evaluation tool that every government should be using on its trading partners into some maniacal weapon of economic doom. There are lots of partners in this world. Just like everyone else if you act like everyone is an enemy then all you ever see is targets.
Do you really think the US doesn’t view the world solely through the lens of rivalry? That’s the underlying logic of capitalism: there are only winners and losers. Cooperation and partnership are temporary arrangements of convenience, they can always change and lists like this are one of the ways the US determines who’s next.
That’s why they use such an inflammatory term like “manipulator” - it’s meant to intimidate.
It doesn’t matter if any of them present a legitimate threat, all that matters is they’re in the way.
Hypocrisy is always in the hypocrite’s best interest. It’s for keeping track of rivals. There are no real partners.
In no realm does the US consider Japan, Germany, or Singapore a rival. China is the only “rival” in there. The other countries don’t have the actual quantity of people or land size to be an economic rival. At best they could have a higher standard of living based on PPP or GDP per capita, but not anything that would overtake the US. You’re trying to turn a simple evaluation tool that every government should be using on its trading partners into some maniacal weapon of economic doom. There are lots of partners in this world. Just like everyone else if you act like everyone is an enemy then all you ever see is targets.
Do you really think the US doesn’t view the world solely through the lens of rivalry? That’s the underlying logic of capitalism: there are only winners and losers. Cooperation and partnership are temporary arrangements of convenience, they can always change and lists like this are one of the ways the US determines who’s next.
That’s why they use such an inflammatory term like “manipulator” - it’s meant to intimidate.
It doesn’t matter if any of them present a legitimate threat, all that matters is they’re in the way.