Chapter 626: Cruel and ruthless

"Supporting Japan is for the national interests of the United States! These bastards do not think about repaying their gratitude, 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 insisted on not giving in. Last year, our trade deficit with Japan hit a new high. They earned a lot of dollars instead of keeping them in the United States."

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

A group of cabinet members criticized Japan verbally, as if they had some life-and-death hatred.

Just in the past year, Japanese purchases of American assets reached a peak.

Sony announced that they successfully purchased Columbia Pictures, a giant in the American entertainment industry and one of the symbols of American culture, for $3.4 billion.

Mitsubishi purchased the more important American national symbol, Rockefeller Center, for $1.4 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.

By now, 10% of the real estate in the United States has been taken by the Japanese.

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

Seeing that many influential large companies and industries in the country have been turned into Japanese bosses, American public opinion exclaimed that this is simply the second time Japan has invaded the United States. The last time was in Pearl Harbor.

So much so that now Americans are self-deprecating and saying: Maybe there will be 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 selling out the symbols of the United States in order to make money. They only care about their current income and do not care about the country's future long-term development and economic security.

But more Americans called on the government to stop the Japanese from buying in large quantities to ensure the national interests of the United States. Some people also asked the government to try to prevent the real estate prices in the United States from being continuously raised by the Japanese who do not care about the cost.

In short, the United States is full of lamentations.

Americans feel that they are being driven off the world's top power by the aggressive Japan.

Instead of being defeated by the Soviet Union, they are being driven off the dominant position by their own dog. How can Americans be willing to let their own dog turn over and become the master?

It was also under this situation that Bush, who was originally in a very unfavorable election situation, seized the opportunity when his opponent showed goodwill to Japan, showed a tough attitude towards Japan, and won the support of a large number of voters, thus turning the tide, defeating his competitors and winning a big victory.

This big 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, and he didn't expect the "Toshiba incident" to break out. It was like handing him a knife.

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

Speaking of which, Bush is also very confused about the fact that Japan is now beating American companies back step by step.

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 experienced overcapacity, with unsalable products and goods piling up. The United States became the main export destination, and the first US-Japan trade war broke out in 1955. Under pressure from the United States, the Japanese textile industry imposed voluntary restrictions on cotton textile exports to the United States in January 1956.

Subsequently, in the next ten years or so, Japan exported a large amount of steel and fiber industries to the United States, which gradually heated up the trade friction between the two sides. Light industrial products such as handkerchiefs, shoes, ceramics, and toys 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 1970s. The export of its home appliances, semiconductors, communication equipment, automobiles and other products has made the relevant American companies helpless. Japan's trade surplus with the United States has continued to expand and set historical records, which has 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 the core interests of the United States, the friction has further escalated. Under the pressure of the United States, Japan has to succumb and voluntarily restrict exports again.

However, even so, major Japanese companies are still attacking the United States like a tide, beating American companies back step by step. Coupled with the sequelae of the Vietnam War, the first oil crisis, and the second oil crisis, the US economy has been extremely weak, and the United States has been struggling in the quagmire.

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

Before, 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 in the economic crisis.

The United States has sucked all the blood that can be sucked.

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

Therefore, the US government personally stepped in.

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

Now, the US government is going to use the "Toshiba incident" to give Japan a hard time.

Bush's eyes are cold. He is not like Reagan who is an actor. He is an oil businessman and has also been in the military. He is a ruthless person.

Now, the "Toshiba incident" has broken out, which puts 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, had continuous support, and did not even have to worry about national defense, actually rebelled against the American father.

This is intolerable!

"If it is not dealt with seriously, more and more Japanese companies will continue to provide prohibited 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.

If people's hearts are scattered, it will be difficult to lead the team!

Similarly, if the blood is not recovered, the United States will not be able to hold on.

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

It is simply killing two birds with one stone, no, it should be killing many birds with one stone!

The principle of killing the chicken to scare the monkey is not unknown to the United States.