China Trade War Escalates, as Beijing Tariffs Target American Farm Products

America’s trade war with China is escalating to dangerous new levels, with Beijing imposing punitive tariffs on a wide range of American farm products that are vital to the economic well-being of the American heartland — an area that largely backed President Trump in the 2024 election.In a tit-for-tat exchange, China is imposing tariffs of 10 percent and 15 percent on products ranging from fish to chicken, soybeans to wheat, and fruit to corn, among others. That’s after Mr. Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese products imported into America to 20 percent.The latest shots fired in the trade war are not likely to result in significant reversal of the statistics showing China with an astounding trade surplus with America last year of $295.4 billion, well ahead of the second-ranking European Union’s surplus of $235.6 billion and third-ranked Mexico, whose surplus with America was $171.8 billion.With Mr. Trump determined to live up to his campaign promises to get tough with China, relations are likely to worsen with the Chinese promising to fight rather than yield. Far from issuing conciliatory comments or a willingness to compromise, top Beijing officials resorted to what seemed like sloganeering.The commerce minister led the fight talk, as reported by the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, declaring, “If the United States goes down the wrong road, China will accompany it to the end.” To which he added, China’s “determination to safeguard its own interests is unwavering.”China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, was almost as combative, saying Mr. Trump had “imposed fresh tariffs on China over fentanyl” right after his return to the presidency. The Global Times, the English-language offshoot of the party newspaper, People’s Daily, quoted him as warning, “One should not fantasize that it can suppress China and maintain good relations with China at the same time.”Anticipating the steep American tariffs, China’s total exports rose by 2.3 percent to a record $540 billion in January and February while imports plummeted by 8.4 percent, according to Bloomberg, giving China a surplus of $170.5 billion. Considering the import of products made in China, or with Chinese parts, from Mexico, Vietnam and elsewhere, the real figures might be higher.Despite the fierceness of Mr. Trump’s attacks on China, though, it’s still possible that he and President Xi will be talking again in the near future, according to the South China Morning Post.The newspaper quoted an unnamed Washington source as predicting Mr. Trump’s attention “would be turned towards China” when he’s done with Ukraine. The same source told the paper that Mr. Trump was likely to go to Beijing in April or May, and a British source, also unnamed, said a Chinese “delegation” had been in Washington talking about a summit.Auguring well for a Trump-Xi summit, the Morning Post said, is that Mr. Trump has often claimed to have formed a “very good relationship” with Mr. Xi whenever they’ve sat down for a personal conversation, notably when they met at Mar-a-Lago nearly eight years ago.“The 2020 Phase One trade agreement with China negotiated during President Donald Trump’s first term fell short of its goals and was largely abandoned during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a China analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, Zongyuan Zoe Liu, writes. “Now, Trump has a second chance to reshape U.S.-China trade relations—and this time, he should think big.”America and China “account for about 43 percent of global GDP and nearly 48 percent of global manufacturing output,” she notes. “Economic reality underscores the futility of decoupling efforts by Washington’s China hawks and Beijing’s so-called wolf-warrior diplomats.”America’s relations with China, though, are complicated by the American “commitment” to the defense of the island democracy of Taiwan, technically a Chinese province but really an independent entity that Mr. Xi has often vowed to recover.Far from renewing the commitment, Mr. Trump avoids questions about his willingness to rush to Taiwan’s defense and has criticized it for the dominance of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company over the global manufacture and sale of semiconductors. Shockingly, Taiwan, with a population of 23 million compared to the 1.4 billion people living on the Chinese mainland, had a trade surplus with America last year of $73.9 billion — seventh highest, right between Germany and ahead of Japan and South Korea.

China Trade War Escalates, as Beijing Tariffs Target American Farm Products

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