In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization, which gave China access to trade with the United States and opened the road to China's success, in just five years China has surpassed Mexico as the second largest trading partner after Canada. Its trade grew from $5 billion in 1980 to $230 billion in 2004 after joining the WTO. This demonstrates the impact that joining the trade organization has had on the Chinese economy and how much it has helped it grow and become one of the world's most important trading partners, which makes China's current relations with the United States crucial. United and its free trade. For my essay I will discuss the current trade war between China and the United States, why it matters to international relations, and examine this case from a realist approach. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayWhen President Trump took office, he began making drastic changes and pulling away many of the ties the United States had with other countries, including the EU, NATO, and Canada. Last March Trump began targeting US ties with China by establishing extensive tariffs on a total of $60 billion on Chinese imports into the US, after accusing China of theft of high technology that ultimately led the United States into a trade war with China. A trade war is defined as: “When a nation imposes tariffs or quotas on imports and foreign countries respond with similar forms of trade protectionism. As a trade war intensifies, it reduces international trade.” The new tariffs imposed by President Trump on China are said to interfere with the global free trade system and could cause a new cold war between China and the United States. China is ready to defend itself from these new tariffs by imposing its own 25% duties on goods imported into China, estimated at $36 billion. The list of items taxed between each state is staggering, from soybeans to pork, these new tariffs are starting to have a big effect on consumers, farmers, and sellers in the midst of the trade war. An example of this impact of the trade war would be China's retaliation on soybean tariffs, which canceled all contracts to purchase soybeans from the United States, which US farmers rely on and to which they sell half of their crop, and replaced the US beans with those from Brazil. China is not affected by this tariff, only the United States and its farmers have begun to see the consequences of oversupply and falling soybean prices. Having a realist approach involves the following views of the world; (1) humans are selfish and selfish, (2) lust for power, (3) belief that there is no perpetual peace, a war can happen at any time, (4) belief that we live in an anarchic world where their self-preservation of rank, (5) strong belief in unipolarity because today's friends could be tomorrow's enemies and for this reason other states cannot be trusted or relied upon. The general aspect of a realist perspective is the belief that the world is an anarchic place full of power-hungry people and the belief that “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must” (Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War) . To demonstrate that realism is the right approach for my case, I will focus specifically on classical realism and how its views have been applied tothis particular trade war, due to Trump's selfish motives and his lack of cooperation with states. which he distanced himself from and the fact that China responded with their offensive realism approach. During this trade war the US takes care of its own interests and benefits and ignores the fact that China will work together and gain allies with the other states who are affected by these tariffs and ultimately they will not need to rely on the US to import their goods, but rather to find other routes to get their goods to consumers without having to pay these extreme tariffs set by President Trump. Trump's realist outlook is what differentiates him from past presidents and what is triggering this trade war; sees it as a way to get back at all the money the US has paid to China over the years and using China's theft of high technology as justification, but is not thinking about how the disruption of the global system of Free trade will affect everyone. It is in China's interest to have a free trade system and collaborate with the United States as this has proven effective over the years for their economy. In the past, the United States has had presidents who have had a more liberal view when it comes to the WTO and let China continue to succeed with the comfort that the United States will benefit from its success and keep away from each other from others to succeed by cooperating in fair trade. But now that President Trump took office, he immediately began distancing the United States from organizations in which the United States was heavily involved, particularly NATO, with which Trump said the United States would not gain nothing from protecting countries that were not paying their share first. agree and tired of being the main supplier. With this realist approach, Trump thinks about his country's self-preservation and focuses on concerns about relative gains and compares them to what China has gained over the United States and other states that have not cooperated and gained more than it has his country. For this reason Trump threatened to withdraw the United States from NATO if other countries did not start behaving as they should by paying their share, in the end his harsh tactics worked and convinced other countries to accept his payment terms 4% of GDP. in a short period of time. Trump's realist approach worked for him in his favor in that example because he took on a topic that other presidents were not as persistent in doing something about and he did what he needed to do for the economic survival of his state, even if it was made in an unstable way. reckless manner. Trump's entire presidential campaign revolves around his slogan “Make America Great Again,” and according to him he is doing so at any cost. Trump's personal interest in his country is what fuels his decision-making, be they good or bad. Trump's realistic approaches have led him to isolate the United States and separate it from other countries with which it once cooperated and protected. Like any realist, he thinks about his country's self-interests and what is best for his country, despite the effect it might have on other countries. Trump slowly began to introduce tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and justified them by saying that it was in the best interests of the United States because it would lead to more jobs in America and eliminate the strong import pressure that industries steel and aluminum have suffered..