A new monthly column for German newspaper Berliner Wochenende. Ever since World War II, U.S. trade strategists have based their international policy on control of two key commodities: oil and grain. Economically, they have been the mainstay of the U.S. balance of payments, the leading categories of export surplus (along with weapons), especially as the U.S. economy has deindustrialized. And politically, these are basic needs of every economy. U.S. diplomacy has sought to make other countries dependent on American grain. In the 1950s, most notably, U.S. opposition to Mao’s Communist revolution in China sought to impose a grain embargo on that country. But Canada broke the sanctions – creating good will for decades. U.S. trade strategists have sought to promote grain dependency on U.S. farmers by opposing foreign attempts to achieve grain ...
