China Is the Problem. President Trump Is the Solution
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow once again rejected the notion that the world is in a trade war, but he pointed at China as the reason for escalating tensions.
“China is the problem. President Trump is the solution,” Kudlow told Bloomberg TV.
“This is the first president in 20 years to have the backbone to go in and challenge China on the kind of unfair and illegal trading practices that they have adopted for the past several decades,” Kudlow said.
China warned on Friday it was fully prepared to respond with a “fierce counter strike” of fresh trade measures if the United States follows through on President Donald Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods, Reuters explained.
In light of what he called China’s “unfair retaliation” against earlier U.S. trade actions, Trump upped the ante on Thursday by ordering U.S. officials to identify extra tariffs, escalating a tit-for-tat confrontation with potentially damaging consequences for the world’s two biggest economies.
China’s Commerce Ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, called the U.S. action “extremely mistaken” and unjustified, adding that the spat was a struggle between unilateralism and multilateralism. He also said no negotiations were likely in the current circumstances.
“The result of this behavior is to smash your own foot with a stone,” Gao told a news briefing in Beijing. “If the United States announces an additional $100 billion list of tariffs, China has already fully prepared, and will not hesitate to immediately make, a fierce counter strike.”
He was speaking shortly after Trump defended his proposed tariffs on U.S. radio, saying the move might cause “a little pain” but the United States will be better off in the long run.
Asked in an interview with New York station WABC about the effect on U.S. stock markets, Trump said the market has gone up (since he took office) “so we might lose a little bit of it.”
For his part, Kudlow said there may be more serious negotiations between the two superpowers in the “coming months,” and that the U.S. wants China to stop violating U.S. intellectual property and open the Asian nation’s markets.
“Blame China for not playing ball, don’t blame the president. He’s standing up for American companies and business,” he said.
"This is a moderate, tempered approach that we are taking," he said. "This is not a trade war," Kudlow said.
"There's no secret here. They've got enormous trade and tariff barriers," he said. "They've got to stop their stealing of the intellectual property that we try to use in any company around the world. Those are good places to start."
Meanwhile, Kudlow said there are ongoing informal talks on trade between the United States and China, Kudlow said on Friday but he did not specify at what level the negotiations were occurring.
“There are ongoing talks. I don’t want to name names, I don’t want to put anyone on the spot, there are ongoing talks. They’ll be back and forth, U.S. and Beijing, and so forth,” Kudlow told Fox Business Network.
However, in an earlier interview Bloomberg TV, Kudlow said official discussions had not begun.
Kudlow told Bloomberg Television’s Jonathan Ferro, referring to talks with China on tit-for-tat tariffs announced in recent weeks. “The president speaks to President Xi, the second and third levels to each other. Perhaps there will be some fruitful negotiations, but I would say they have been unsatisfactory, so we will see.”
Trump on Thursday instructed the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office to consider tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese imports, bringing to $150 billion the range of Chinese goods under consideration. China has said it will respond proportionately, and has so far proposed duties on $50 billion in U.S. goods., including aircraft and soybeans.
Before Thursday’s announcement by the president, Kudlow had been working to tamp down worries of a full-out trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
Kudlow, a fomer CNBC special contributor, succeeded Gary Cohn as Trump's top economic adviser. Cohn, who opposed imposition of tariffs, resigned in March.
(Newsmax wire services Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report).
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A master of understatement.
I can just picture China's response: "Go ahead, make my day."
Who does anyone think is going to suffer the most?
Walmart had better consider changing its promotional materials to attract middle-class buyers who will be able to afford the products they sell.
You don't have to read it all. Start reading and you will see just how much a threat China is to the USA.
The links don't open for me - maybe China blocked them.
Interesting. Thank you. Of course the United States does not do the same thing, nor Russia, nor Israel, nor Japan, nor India, nor......
So why doesn't the USA do something about the hacking? Why try to punish with trade wars that hurt everyone?
Maybe the worst thing to happen in modern times is the invention of the internet. I was happy with my Encyclopedia Britannica, with annual update volumes, a good public library, a telephone and writing letters.
Had to sell mine. Too much weight for airline luggage.
US corporations are not forced to do business in China. It's their choice and this is the reason why.
GM Sold More Cars in China Than in the US (Again) Last Year
Do they build them there because of the big tariffs China puts on US cars imported?
“When a car is sent to the United States from China, there is a Tariff to be paid of 2 1/2%. When a car is sent to China from the United States, there is a Tariff to be paid of 25%,” Trump wrote on Twitter just after 6 a.m. Monday morning. “Does that sound like free or fair trade. No, it sounds like STUPID TRADE - going on for years!”
Yes - they build them in China - mostly for Asian consumption, but that is changing.
Yes it's no surprise that they can't build them here and ship them to China because China has a 25% tariff on them. China's protectionism is locking out imports.
Dean, here is an article worth reading regarding the auto and auto parts trade between China and the US...
Once again no one is forcing GM or any other US company to do business in China. It's the bottom line that makes them do it.
AMC, Chrysler has been making Jeeps in China since 1983. VW and Peugeot built factories the following year.
Why do you think Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Mercedes build their cars in the USA?
It's avoiding shipping expenses & tariffs. Just good common business sense.
Does this mean you are in favor of the current situation where China imposes tariffs on US goods at a disproportionate rate discouraging imports and providing protectionism for Chinese workers?
Dean, America does the same. Are you familiar with the ''chicken tax'' from 1963, it's still in effect. It puts a 25% tariff on German light trucks...
Are you saying you favor the tariffs or you prefer free trade and no protectionism? I get the feeling you support Obama’s heavy tariffs on Chinese steal but oppose Trumps attempts to level the playing field.
What I'm saying Dean, is that if you want to do business in China and you go by their rules then don't be crying about it. Simple as that.
Tariffs have been in existence for centuries. All countries have used them both to protect home industries and as punishement...simply a fact of life.
Don't assume Dean. You do know what assuming does.
Here is another tidbit of information regarding China/US trade.
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. It operates as a separate customs territory.
U.S. goods and services trade with Hong Kong totaled an estimated $61.1 billion in 2016. Exports were $44.9 billion; imports were $16.2 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Hong Kong was $28.8 billion in 2016.