In a currency war, you win by out "devaluing" your currency vs your trading partner.
You do this to gain market advantage - your products become CHEAPER than your competitor, killing your competitors industry.
The white line is china - when the white line goes up (9 of them) china devalued.
Notice that giant plunge near #4?
Notice the yellow line - thats global liquidity - and its inverted - so you can clearly see central bank interventions and its impact on the chinese currency.
G7 loaded up on debt, and out china'ed china....
Lately they stopped - because inflation now is raging.
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Remember - currencies are a RATIO.
So when chinas currency goes up on this chart - it gets WEAKER relative to USD.
Which means the USD gets STRONGER.
Stronger USD = bad for US exports, particularly to china.
It means China wins global trade vs US because everything is so cheap.
Tariffs equalize trade and offset this nonsense.
Tariffs make this cheap chinese export due to currency games less competitive.
US cannot control what china does, but it can control what it imports from china.