China fought back! Accompany the Sino-US trade war provoked by Trump to the end

Original title: China strikes back! Accompany the Sino-US trade war provoked by Trump to the end

In the early hours of last night, US President Trump formally signed a presidential memorandum to impose punitive tariffs on China’s imports and exports worth $60 billion to punish "China’s theft of American intellectual property". When Trump signed this memo, he still recited in his mouth:

This is just the beginning.
This is the first of many.

Trump signed a presidential memorandum at the White House. Photo from: Xinhua News Agency Trump’s move officially started a trade war with China, and he also suffered a loss of 800 yuan. As soon as the news came out of the earthquake in the US stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted by more than 700 points, and the three major stock indexes all fell by more than 2.4%, the biggest drop in a single day in more than a month.

This news has also implicated the global stock market, and the global stock market is full of sorrow. After the opening of the China stock market, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Index 300 also recorded a decline of more than 3%. By the close, the Shenzhen Component Index fell by 4.02%, and the Shanghai Composite Index also fell by 3.39%. More than 400 stocks in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets fell.

Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States, faced Trump’s restrictive measures against China, and Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States, quickly responded through the official Facebook. Cui Tiankai said that the accusation of China’s intellectual property infringement was "unfounded" and China did not want to fight a trade war, but it was not afraid of a trade war:

We will definitely fight back, and we will retaliate. If someone wants to play hard, we will play hard with them to see who will last longer. Trump has been planning for a long time. According to this presidential memorandum just signed by Trump, the Office of the US Trade Representative will formulate a specific plan to impose tariffs on China goods within 15 days, and will also sue China to the World Trade Organization for related issues. At the same time, the U.S. Treasury Department will issue relevant plans within 60 days to restrict China enterprises’ investment and mergers and acquisitions in American enterprises.

At present, the Trump administration hasn’t revealed which China goods it will impose tariffs on. However, according to foreign media reports such as The New York Times, the United States will introduce 100 tariff measures against China, and the US Trade Representative Office has drawn up a list of 1,300 goods worth $48 billion. New York Post commented on this tariff measure:

Trump’s order to impose tariffs on China’s goods and restrict China’s investment in the United States is a slap in the face to the world’s second largest economy. Trump said that these measures are aimed at solving the US$ 375 billion trade deficit with China, and bluntly said that these tariffs "make us a stronger and richer country". This may be the American dream in Trump’s eyes. In fact, Trump has been planning to take a stronger trade strike against China since he took office.

The main basis for this tariff increase on China is the "301 investigation" launched by the United States against China last year. On August 14th last year, Trump signed an executive order authorizing US Trade Representative Wright Heze to formally launch a trade investigation on China in the fields of technology transfer, intellectual property rights and innovation in accordance with Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. On August 18th, Wright Heze announced the official launch of the "301 investigation" in China.

Trump signed an executive order to launch a "301 investigation" against China. This trade bill, which was born during the Cold War, has always been the hegemonic weapon of American unilateralism, and now it is being used again against China. Since 2001, the United States has only launched a "301 investigation" against Ukraine in 2013. Over the past 30 years, the United States has launched "301 investigation" on China many times, among which the most frequent investigation was in the 1980s and 1990s. The last time was in 2010, the United States announced the launch of the "301 investigation" on China’s clean energy policies and measures, but in the end, China and the United States reached an agreement through negotiations, and the United States did not take any measures.

It may also be that in the past, the United States only used the "301 investigation" as a deterrent. When Trump announced the launch of the "301 investigation" on China last year, many media and scholars thought that the symbolic significance was greater than the actual significance. The New York Times and the Financial Times both pointed out at that time that there was little chance of a Sino-US trade war because of the length of the investigation and geopolitical factors. Like the time he was elected president, Trump gave the United States and the world a big "surprise" this time. In fact, in January this year, the United States announced that it would impose temporary tariffs on imported solar cells and panels and large household washing machines. Earlier this month, Trump announced that he would impose high tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Trump’s determination to go further and further on the road of "trade protectionism" is already obvious.

The former site of a steel mill in Guangzhou, China. The steel produced in China actually accounts for only about 2% of the steel used in the United States. Photo: The New York Times At the G20 meeting that ended not long ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin once again stressed that a series of tariff measures in the United States are to protect their industries from the impact of dumping and unfair competition. However, American companies don’t seem to buy it. A few days ago, 45 trade associations, including Apple, Google, Nike and Wal-Mart, jointly called on the Trump administration to suspend its plan to impose tariffs on China products.

Photo from: After Trump announced the imposition of tariffs on China on a large scale, the new york Times warned that the decision of American business organizations to use tariffs to solve the problem may be counterproductive. Imposing tariffs not only harms American consumers, but may also lead to retaliation.

Photo from: YouTube, the National Retail Federation, believes that increasing tariffs will "make ordinary Americans punished for China’s violations". Accompany to the end! China strikes back. As stated in an earlier statement of China’s embassy in the United States, China is not only not afraid of a trade war, but will also make a strong counterattack to the end. On the morning of March 23rd, China’s Ministry of Commerce also officially issued a statement on this Trump tariff measure, and responded to the US trade measure with actions.
China decided to impose tariffs on some imported goods from the United States, so as to balance the losses caused to China’s interests by the United States imposing tariffs on imported steel and aluminum products.

The Ministry of Commerce issued a list of products that were suspended from the 232 measures to import steel and aluminum products from the United States and solicited public opinions. The list included 128 items in 7 categories, involving about 3 billion US dollars of American exports to China. The list was divided into two parts. The first part included 120 items, involving 977 million US dollars of American exports to China, including fresh fruits, dried fruits and nut products, wine, modified ethanol, American ginseng, seamless steel pipes and other products. The second part includes 8 taxes, involving US$ 1.992 billion in exports to China, including pork and its products, recycled aluminum and other products. It is proposed to impose a 25% tariff.

The Ministry of Commerce pointed out that the United States restricted the import of products on the grounds of "national security", which seriously undermined the multilateral trading system represented by the WTO and seriously interfered with the normal international trade order. In fact, in the face of Trump’s Si Mazhao heart, China’s counterattack has already begun. Yesterday, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued two announcements in succession. One was to decide to continue to levy anti-dumping duties on photographic paper imported from the European Union, the United States and Japan, and the other was to file an anti-dumping review on hydroquinone imported from the United States and Japan.

Trump’s "shooting yourself in the foot": When commenting on Trump’s trade measures, both China officials and American media used a sentence: shooting yourself in the foot. China’s ambassador to the United States clearly pointed out in the statement:

This move by the United States will also lift a rock and drop it on its own feet, which will directly harm the interests of American consumers, companies and financial markets, and will also have a negative impact on the international trade order and world economic stability.

The New York Times also published an article entitled "Trump tariff war will lift a rock and drop it on your own feet? "article, the article quoted the views of trade experts:

These policies will alienate allies and undermine the potential for collective action by countries that are equally dissatisfied with China, thus weakening the position of the United States in the world. In an article, the Financial Times said that Trump was not fully prepared for this explosive trade war:

Trump’s trade war with China may turn into a quagmire for a long time, just like the invasion of Afghanistan. According to a research report recently released by the American Information Technology Innovation Foundation, if the Trump administration imposes a 25% tariff on information and communication technology products imported from China, it will cause the US economy to lose about $332 billion in the next 10 years.

Trump’s stroke of a pen has a great impact on China, the United States and the world, but it is also in line with Trump’s style. It’s just that Trump may have made a decision that harms others, and the global stock market crash has just begun. However, this boot has not yet fully landed. Before the bill to increase tariffs is officially implemented, there will be a consultation period, and members and other relevant people can also propose amendments to this tariff policy, which is also the last room for manoeuvre.

However, who can persuade Trump?