On 21 May there was breaking news – Donald Trump was asked about working with countries like China on vaccine production. He said “We’re willing to work with anybody that is going to get us a good result”.
Today there is breaking news. The White House announced “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China”
Reading the statement further it looks like the big complaint is that Trump does not want to be held back by the need for testing.
Meanwhile China has approved a vaccine for limited use (by military) while phase III testing goes on. Yes, you read that right – there is a vaccine already approved for use, and with use in the Chinese military this will help identify side effects quickly. They also have set up an agreement for testing in Brasil – where they can look at effectiveness.
But the bigger news from the USA is the attempt to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court staff because they have the audacity to investigate whether USA soldiers have committed criminal acts. Investigate – not prosecute.
This has a lot more importance than it might seem at first. But to understand why there is a need to understand the international money system. There is a fairly good write-up here
In short, if you are doing business internationally then there is a good chance that your money will pass through an organisation based in the USA.
This is why USA sanctions are so important internationally – you break them and chances are you will find your money locked up as it goes through the USA.
So the USA has sanctions against some staff of the ICC. Will countries obey this? Well, there are 123 countries that have signed up to the ICC, and as part of this they have signed a document dealing with privileges and immunities. Bottom line is that there is legally binding agreements preventing 123 countries from applying the new USA sanctions.
So where will this end? This is Donald Trump challenging the United Nations. But not only this, it is a challenge of the “Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”. This is the treaty that sets up how we relate to each other as countries.
Has he bitten off more than he can chew? There is a real risk for the USA that countries will switch their international monetary business to the Euro?