Yesterday the US president tweeted that his trade barriers against China are a recovery effort against a lost cause.
We are not in a trade war with China, that war was lost many years ago by the foolish, or incompetent, people who represented the U.S. Now we have a Trade Deficit of $500 Billion a year, with Intellectual Property Theft of another $300 Billion. We cannot let this continue!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2018
His believes not withstanding Chinese have retaliated with additional 25 per cent of tariffs on a range of goods it imports from the US, including soybeans, cars and planes.
However, the White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has said that the U.S. tariffs are still only proposals that might never take effect.
Across the Pacific, Beijing too did not specify when the new tariffs would be imposed.
Further the two sides have “agreed to remain in close communication” on issues including “the need to restore fairness and balance to our economic ties”. Neither side is providing insights on the long meetings between Acting Secretary of State John J. Sullivan and China’s top envoy to the US, Cui Tiankai.
The stock markets have already told President of their displeasure his decisions when The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened down more than 400 points with shares of American exporters dropping sharply.
Earlier, Kudlow, speaking to Fox Business News, repeated the negotiation claim, and even denied there was a trade war at all. “What you’ve got is the early stages of a process that will include tariffs, comments on the tariffs, then ultimate decisions and negotiations. There’s already backchannel talks going on .”
