The Trump administration ready to fight at any cost on the trade



[ad_1]

Brandishing the threat of mbadive new tariffs against China, the administration claims to be ready to go through with its trading partners in the showdown, ignoring reprisals and diplomatic contingencies.

The United States announced Tuesday its intention to tax, from September, $ 200 billion of Chinese imports to the tune of 10% to add to the 50 billion of goods taxed at 25%.

The period where one could hope that the threats of the American president were only "bluff and words in the air" is over, summarizes Edward Alden, expert in international trade at the Council on Foreign Relations, noting that Donald Trump does exactly this that it threatens to do since the presidential campaign in 2016.

"The new tariffs clearly illustrate Trump's desire to raise the stakes until China capitulates, which seems China is not in the mood for compromise, "commented Eswar Prasad, China expert and professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

Announcing the news measures Tuesday, the US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer has also had particularly harsh words for China, saying that the behavior of the Asian giant threatened the future of the US economy.

"Rather than responding to our legitimate concerns, China has begun to retaliate against US goods, such actions are unjustifiable," he said, as the Trump administration China "to end its unfair practices, open its markets" to reduce the colossal US trade deficit with the Asian giant.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has immediately qualified the new US threats of "totally unacceptable" and the United States' behavior of "irrational".

However, the White House's trade policy needs to be badyzed in light of the prospect of the mid-term elections to be held on November 6, say some economists.

"Currently, the president's concern is to rally his base and to rally his base, he must show that he is keeping his campaign promises," Monica observes. Bolle, a specialist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics

She points out that Trump's supporters in 2016 are precisely those who make Beijing responsible for the loss of jobs in the United States.

And this policy until- republican president's hard-line has benefited so far from favorable economic conditions

The US economy is doing well. The United States shows full employment and despite some ups and downs, Wall Street has largely grown since the election of Donald Trump (+ 33% for the Dow Jones, + 47% for the Nasdaq and + 28% for the S & P 500)

– Favorable Conjuncture –

For the time being, "there is no tangible proof that this (this protectionist policy) is damaging the economy, except for a few specific enterprises" already affected by customs taxes, says Edward Alden.

So that Donald Trump remains deaf to the reprisals of its main partners or allies (Canada, China, European Union and Mexico), which will eventually affect consumers, experts say .

The latter are particularly worried about the rise in prices for consumers because of the higher prices of imported or manufactured products in the United States.

They also expect the realization of the American threats to impose new tariffs this time on the automotive sector.

If this were the case, the shock waves on the world economy would be much more unmanageable, this sector being at the heart of world trade exchanges.

The Department of Commerce is due to report to the White House in a few weeks after hearings of the actors concerned

German car imports are particularly in the US viewfinder

Wednesday, Donald Trump has once again taken on Germany, the EU's leading economic power, denouncing this time its ambiguity with Russia.

"It pays billions of dollars to Russia for its energy supplies and we have to pay to protect it against Russia How to explain this? It is not fair, "baderted the president on the first day of the NATO summit in Brussels.

While pressuring the Europeans on the issues The President also suggested that they double their military spending to 4% of their GDP.

[ad_2]
Source link