Tariffs on China should not become a political sticky note in Washington
2024-08-28
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The Biden administration is expected to announce this week its final plan to impose high tariffs on some goods imported from China. The first batch of these new tariffs was originally scheduled to take effect on the 1st of this month, but due to too much opposition and "more time is needed to coordinate industry opinions", the announcement had to be postponed to the end of the month. We believe that the US, which has always claimed to attach importance to democracy, should face up to these surging public opinions and give a truly responsible response to the people, instead of using "coordination" as a cover to continue its wrong policies that harm others and itself.
The tariff plan was announced by the Biden administration in May this year, including crazy moves such as raising tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China to 100%, with the aim of "protecting American companies from China's excess capacity". But now, these "protected objects" have come forward one after another. They are not specific companies in a specific field, but "manufacturers from electric vehicles to power equipment have requested to reduce, postpone or abandon higher tariff rates, and to significantly expand the scope of potential exemptions". The fact that the US's protectionist measures have encountered such strong and universal opposition in the industry before they were implemented has already foreshadowed their end.
These objections come from the front lines of various industries and are highly persuasive. For example, the United States intends to impose a new 25% tariff on port cranes. The Virginia Port Authority pointed out that more than 80% of the quay cranes in US ports are manufactured in China, and "the United States has no technology or intellectual property rights to protect." If the new tariffs are imposed, US ports will either have to buy cranes from China at a higher cost or buy cranes of lower quality. In addition, some lawmakers urged the Office of the United States Trade Representative to reconsider its plan to impose a 50% tariff on syringes because it could disrupt the supply of syringe baby medicine feeders.
Even American companies that compete with Chinese companies have not benefited from the tariffs. Ford Motor Company submitted its opinions this time because the artificial graphite that is subject to tariffs is a key material for electric vehicle batteries, and the artificial graphite currently used by Ford is almost entirely supplied by China. Autos Drive America, an American automobile trade organization representing international automakers, also called for keeping lithium battery tariffs stable to support the production and popularization of electric vehicles in the United States.It seems that Washington's path of squeezing China's new energy industry chain through tariffs and competing for more new energy industry shares for itself is not only unsuccessful, but will eventually cut off its own path. The desire of American companies for China's new energy industry materials and components has refuted the "overcapacity" theory.
The trade war against China that began during the Trump era has in fact already failed, and this is not controversial either inside or outside the United States.The New York Times once published an article saying, "Trump's trade war has achieved nothing, but it has succeeded in exhausting the United States again." Today, the US is still "coordinating" this batch of tariffs, making it look like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. But wrong is wrong, and it will only continue the bad ending of the previous failure. An American scholar pointed out in a column that escalating the trade war actually means admitting that the previous policies did not work, "even if the tariffs are largely symbolic, they are also a symbol of weakness."
Today, these tariffs can no longer be called "economic measures". They have become political sticky notes for some politicians in Washington, as if they can appear brave and patriotic by sticking them on. What is sacrificed is the real interests of the American people and the country. According to Moody's earlier estimates, American consumers bear 92% of the cost of the additional tariffs on China, and each American family has increased its expenses by $1,300 per year. According to statistics from the American Tax Foundation, the additional tariffs on China have caused the loss of 142,000 jobs in the United States. Drew Bernstein, co-founder of the American accounting firm MacKay Asia, wrote on the website of the American magazine Forbes that "if tariffs become a permanent and rigid part of the economic landscape, they will eventually accelerate the decline of a country."
In the current era of globalization, the economies of various countries are highly interdependent, and this is especially true for China and the United States, the two largest economies in the world. Any pan-politicization and pan-security delusion and reckless behavior can easily affect the entire system, undermine trade between China and the United States, and further have serious negative spillover effects on global industrial innovation, industrial chain stability and economic development.From the day Washington's wrong decisions were made, negative impacts on American industries and consumers began to form, and they also disrupted global technological cooperation and trade order, causing losses to the world's production and supply chains.
Public opinion generally noted that the US will announce the final tariff plan this time, and the timing is very close to the visit of US President's National Security Advisor Sullivan to China. In a sense, it can be said that Sullivan's visit to China was set off amid the voices against tariff barriers.Washington has repeatedly stressed the need to seek "stable relations with China." It is not difficult to see from the wave of opposition that the tariff issue has aroused in the United States that the fundamental reason for the instability in Sino-US relations lies not in China, but in the United States.Simply showing off its strength to China will not make the United States look stronger, but facing up to and correcting its own mistakes may make it look more courageous.
This article is a Global Times editorial
