Misleading tariff threats against China continue, with tariffs rising to $ 200 billion tweet Sunday as trade talks continue



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Washington – President Trump has stepped up pressure on China on Sunday, threatening to raise tariffs on Chinese goods worth $ 200 billion. Trump's comments on Twitter were heard as a Chinese delegation resumed Wednesday in Washington talks to resolve a trade war that shook financial markets and clouded the global economy.

Mr Trump said that he would increase import taxes on Chinese products by $ 200 billion, from 10% Friday to 25%.

He had twice postponed the deadlines – in January and March – to raise rates to save time for a negotiated settlement. But on Sunday, Mr. Trump, who said he was "fare man", said he was losing patience. "The trade agreement with China is continuing, but too slowly, while they are trying to renegotiate. Mr. Trump tweeted.

In his tweets, Trump also threatened to freeze tariffs on additional imports of 325 billion Chinese dollars, covering everything that China ships annually to the United States.

The prospect of higher tariffs and increased tensions could alarm investors when the markets open on Monday. "When the president puts a foot in the ground, the market collapses," wrote Chris Rupkey, chief economist at MUFG Union Bank, in a research note. "The fare manager is back just in time to dive, dive, dive into the stock market."

US equity futures were significantly lower overnight, as were Asian stock markets.

After the tweet of the Chinese president, a delegation of trade representatives announced the cancellation of this week's trip to Washington by a trade delegation under which a new trade agreement could be concluded.

Both countries are grappling with a major conflict over China's willingness to establish itself as a technological superpower. The United States accuses China of using predation tactics – including computer theft and forcing foreign companies to switch technology – in order to make Chinese companies world leaders in advanced industries such as robotics and electric vehicles.

Trump US China
President Trump meets Chinese Vice Premier Liu He at the White House Oval Office in Washington on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

AP


The administration has repeatedly suggested that negotiators are making progress. A month ago, Trump said the two countries were "turning the corner" and predicted that "something monumental" would be achieved in the coming weeks.

But last week, the Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, seemed to calm expectations, suggesting that Washington was ready to "move on" when it could not get the desired deal.

A substantive deal would force China to rethink its way of pursuing its economic ambitions, abandoning or reducing its subsidies, easing pressure on foreign companies to share their trade secrets and giving them greater access to the Chinese market.

Philip Levy, senior researcher at the Chicago Global Affairs Council and White House economist with George W. Bush, said the talks were too complicated for Trump's high-pressure tactics to work. "The president sees this as if we are discussing the price of a used car," Levy said.

Hu Xijin, editor of the Chinese newspaper Global Times, an English-language State newspaper, sent a tweet On Sunday, he criticized Trump's approach by saying "apparently, he does not understand how fares work." Mr. Trump's priority is to upset American trade policy.

As a presidential candidate, Mr. Trump raged several times against the alleged Chinese perfidy – to the point that a video-composition of him spitting out the word "China" became viral and garnered more than 15 million views on YouTube.

Trump said previous administrations, credulous and weak, have let China deal with abusive business practices, accepting Beijing's broken promises and allowing US-China economic relations to widen. As evidence, he drew attention to the vast US trade deficit with China – $ 379 billion last year, by far the largest of any country in the world.

Once he took office, relations between Mr. Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, seemed to start well. The two men shared a chocolate cake and a friendly conversation at the Trump complex in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in April 2017. A few weeks later, China agreed to open its market to American beef, cooked chicken and natural gas. Wilbur Ross called it a "Herculean achievement".

The romance has fainted. In March 2018, the US Trade Representative's Office released a report accusing China of using predation tactics to bolster its technology companies.

Last July, the Trump administration gradually began to reduce import taxes on Chinese products to encourage Beijing to change its policies. It has now imposed tariffs of 10% on Chinese imports in the amount of 200 billion dollars and 25% on 50 billion. The Chinese fought back by targeting $ 110 billion in US imports.

The struggle between the two largest economies in the world raises concerns about global economic growth. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other countries have lowered their forecasts for the global economy, saying the US-China standoff is reducing global trade and creating uncertainty for companies trying to decide where to buy their supplies, build factories and invest.

Trump described his rates as a source of revenue for the United States and a benefit to the US economy.

But a March study by economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Columbia University and Princeton University found that the burden of Mr. Trump's tariffs – including taxes on steel, aluminum, solar panels and Chinese imports – was entirely the responsibility of US consumers. and companies that buy imported products. According to the study, by the end of last year, they were paying $ 3 billion a month in taxes and more, and absorbing $ 1.4 billion per month in lost efficiency.

Nevertheless, the entire US economy has remained healthy. On Friday, the government announced that the US unemployment rate had fallen to its lowest level in half a century.

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