China: China’s measured reaction to the US’s decision to impose tariffs on$ 18 billion worth of Chinese products from syringes to batteries suggests that trade between the country’s two largest economy is in need of more ice rather than a new shootout over trade.
China denounced the Biden administration’s behavior and vowed “resolute methods” to protect its interests.
However, Beijing’s response also suggests a new powerful and trust in comparison to 2018, when Trump-era taxes on$ 300 billion of Chinese products sparked an escalation trade war, according to experts.
The Biden White House warned Chinese officials about possible tariffs in advance, and they did so in industries like EVs and batteries where their economical impact is limited and their standing seems unassailable.
Foreign state media has responded to the taxes by criticizing the United States for subverting its own free business rules and for putting pressure on American customers by raising fees.
In fact, the reasoning goes, you are hurting yourself.
A Chinese mediator claimed Washington was “putting a knife to China’s throat” in 2018, and state media had suggested extreme counter-measures like a protest of US food exports or a sell-off of US securities.
” China may take the moral high ground”, said Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Beijing- based Center for China and Globalization, a consider pond. It “plays around with those who violate international norms and standards”
The Chinese banking ministry claimed in the most obscene language that the White House had violated the spirit of a deal reached by US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later last year in San Francisco to maintain stable diplomatic relations.
Biden has stated that he wants to compete with China in this time without starting a trade war, and that US officials have looked to employ Beijing in restricted areas of assistance, including climate change.
‘ What does n’t kill you’
Before the taxes go into effect, China has a chance to respond with specific actions, according to researchers. However, a lot has changed since the 2018 industry reversal.
In that year, Taiwanese manufacturers built really under 800, 000 electrical cars. By 2023, China had outperformed Japan as the nation’s largest car producer, and Foreign carmakers were putting together growth plans from Southeast Asia to Europe.
Huawei, which had been hampered by US punishment in 2019, has recovered, leading the charge for China-made chips and outpacing Tesla for EVs and Apple in the China cellphone business.
” What does not kill you makes you stronger”, Xinhua said in a commentary on the US taxes. ” It seems the famous offer applies to China’s systems companies”.
Beijing was aware that this tariff large was on the horizon. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others had conveyed the dangers that China’s commercial power, which produces more Tesla, solar panels, and chargers than its business can handle, presented to the country.
Taiwanese officials and state media have rejected that argument, saying the government’s EV makers dominate because of technology and supply chain advantages, no incentives.
A business space that has persisted for years and has grown to become an even more sensitive topics in Washington has increased by$ 427 billion in goods from China last year and$ 148 billion to the country’s No 2 market.
Both 2024 presidential individuals are taking a hard line on China ahead of November’s election, environment Chinese officials understand, experts said.
Does China really want to fight these tariffs in court? said Sean Stein, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, who said the announced action was at the “far low end” of expectations.
” The US rollout was restrained”, he added.
Once the election is over, Beijing will also consider who it would prefer to work with.
The interesting aspect of this Biden initiative is that it is election-driven, Wang said. It is different from what Trump did because he had been in office for a year and was also pursuing a trade war rather than an election.
