The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 626 Cruel and ruthless
"Supporting Japan is for the national interests of the United States! These bastards do not think about repaying our kindness, but instead harm us. They must be severely punished!"

"At the previous G5 finance ministers' meeting in France, the Japanese finance minister dared to be stubborn and refused to give in. Last year, our trade deficit with Japan hit a new high. They took away a large amount of US dollars instead of keeping them in the United States."

“These bastards, they bought Rockefeller Center, they bought Times Square, they bought Columbia Pictures.”

A number of cabinet members criticized Japan as if they had some life-and-death hatred against them.

Just this past year, Japanese purchases of U.S. assets peaked.

Sony announced that they had successfully purchased Columbia Pictures, a giant in the American entertainment industry and one of the symbols of American culture, for US$34 billion.

Mitsubishi purchased a more important American national symbol, Rockefeller Center, for $14 billion. This great building that represents the heyday of American capitalism now belongs to the Japanese.

In Los Angeles, the Japanese control almost half of the real estate in the downtown area; in Hawaii, more than 96% of foreign investment comes from Japan, and is mainly concentrated in real estate such as hotels and high-end residences.

Today, 10% of all real estate in the United States is owned by the Japanese.

The Japanese purchased a large number of assets in the United States, especially those with huge influence such as Rockefeller Center and Columbia Pictures, which caused a great response in American society.

Seeing that many of the country's influential large companies and industries were now owned by Japanese, American public opinion exclaimed that this was Japan's second invasion of the United States, the last being Pearl Harbor.

So much so that now Americans are self-deprecatingly saying: You never know when we’ll get news that the Japanese have bought the Statue of Liberty.

Before the "Toshiba incident", American public opinion was very unfavorable to Japan. Although many people believed that those American businessmen who sold assets to the Japanese were greedy and profit-seeking, these American businessmen were criticized for being short-sighted and willing to sell out the symbol of the United States in order to make money. They only cared about their current income and did not care about the country's future long-term development and economic security at all.

But more Americans called on the government to stop the Japanese from buying spree to ensure the national interests of the United States. Others asked the government to try to prevent American real estate prices from being continuously raised by the Japanese who did not consider costs.

In short, there is a sound of lamentation in the United States.

Americans felt that they were being driven off their position as the world's leading power by an aggressive Japan.

Instead of being defeated by the Soviet Union, the Americans were driven out of their dominant position by their own dog. How could they be willing to let their own dog turn the tables and become the master?

It was also in this situation that Bush, who was originally in a very unfavorable election situation, seized the opportunity when his opponent showed goodwill to Japan, demonstrated a tough stance toward Japan, and gained the support of a large number of voters, thus turning the tide, defeating his opponent, and winning a landslide victory.

This great victory is not only reflected in the competition for the White House throne, but also in the battle between the two houses!

Bush had just taken office when the "Toshiba incident" broke out, which was like handing a knife to him.

Now Bush is going to use this knife to give the Japanese a hard blow.

By the way, Bush also doesn't understand why Japan is defeating American companies.

Speaking of trade frictions between the two countries, we have to mention the first friction caused by Japan's large-scale export of cheap shirts to the United States in 1955. In 1953, Japan's textile industry had overcapacity, unsalable products and goods were piled up, and the United States became the main export destination, which triggered the first US-Japan trade war in 1955. Under pressure from the United States, the Japanese textile industry implemented voluntary restrictions on cotton textile exports to the United States since January 1956.

Subsequently, in the next decade or so, Japan exported a large amount of steel and fiber industries to the United States, which led to the gradual escalation of trade frictions between the two sides. Light industrial products such as handkerchiefs, shoes, ceramics, toys, etc. all had trade frictions to varying degrees. However, at that time, trade products were mainly labor-intensive, low-value-added products, belonging to vertical trade relations, and had not yet posed a clear competition to the United States.

But it was also during that period that Japan became the second largest economic power in the capitalist world after the United States.

After the first oil crisis, Japan's economy entered a period of structural depression, prompting Japan to accelerate the transformation of its industrial structure. Knowledge industries included "integrated circuit technology, color televisions, automobiles, CNC machinery", etc., laying a solid foundation for the rapid development of the electronics industry in the late 70s. Its exports of home appliances, semiconductors, communication equipment, automobiles and other products made related American companies helpless. Japan's trade surplus with the United States continued to expand and set historical records, which triggered a new stage of trade friction.

As the products involved have expanded to technology-intensive industries and even risen to the national strategic level, touching on the core interests of the United States, friction has further escalated. Under pressure from the United States, Japan had to succumb and once again voluntarily restrict exports.

But even so, major Japanese companies continued to launch a massive offensive in the United States, forcing American companies to retreat step by step. Coupled with the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the first oil crisis, and the second oil crisis, the US economy was extremely weak, and the United States has been struggling in the quagmire.

It seems that the US GDP is getting higher every year, but in fact the national debt is also growing like a snowball.

Previously, the US interest rate hike triggered a dollar tide, which has attracted dollars from South America, Mexico, Canada and other countries to the United States. South American countries are still mired in the economic crisis.

The United States has already sucked all the blood it can.

Now the only country that can make the United States absorb a big wave is Japan.

So, the US government got involved personally.

The United States convened a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors from five countries including Japan and West Germany, and reached the "Plaza Accord" for the five governments to jointly intervene in the foreign exchange market, causing the main currencies of the Western camp to appreciate against the US dollar, thereby inducing a depreciation of the US dollar.

Now, the US government is going to use the "Toshiba incident" to deal a heavy blow to Japan.

There was coldness in Bush's eyes. He was not an actor like Reagan. He was an oil businessman and had served in the military. He was a ruthless man.

Now, the "Toshiba incident" has broken out, which has put the United States on the moral high ground.

As the leader of the capitalist world, the United States takes it as its responsibility to resist socialism.

As a result, the Japanese, who were protected by the United States and received uninterrupted support in various forms, and who did not even have to worry about national defense, actually rebelled against their American father.

It’s tolerable, it’s unbearable!

"If we don't deal with it seriously, more and more Japanese companies will continue to provide banned technologies and strategic equipment to China and the Soviet Union for money. If this continues, Europe will be out of our control. Now the European Community is becoming more and more active." Bush's attitude was very tough.

It’s hard to lead a team if people’s morale is low!
Similarly, if the United States doesn’t make up for the loss, it will not be able to hold on.

Using this "Toshiba incident" as a breakthrough point, severely punish "Toshiba Corporation" and severely punish Japan, the people's resentment and anger can be vented, and the United States can also benefit.

It's like killing two birds with one stone. No, it should be said that it kills many birds with one stone!
The United States is well aware of the principle of killing the chicken to scare the monkey.

(End of this chapter)