Trade and finance - USA-China trade war

Résumé du document

2018 was the year a bilateral economic conflict between the world's two biggest economies, the United States and China, began. The president of the United States, Donald Trump, made the first step by imposing trade barriers on its rival such as tariffs. This was in order to respond to what the U.S. describes as "unfair trade practices". It is important to underline that the United States is the largest importer in the world and China the largest exporter. Both superpowers have been exchanging tit-for-tat tariffs for over a year. Donald Trump threatens non-stop, a quick end to this war remains very uncertain as the situation evolves.

Extraits

[...] I personally think the future of this war will be decided by the American presidential elections in 2020. Trump's successor (if not himself) will have the opportunity to rethink America's strategy towards China. I would like to add that this article was a pleasure to read as I was expecting it to be biased: it was not and points out some very interesting points that made me rethink some opinions I had. Another question that would lead to another essay is: Who else wins from this trade war? [...]

[...] Jon Gold completes this: “Tariffs are a tax on American families, farmers and businesses. They are killing jobs and damaging our economy, and so far they have done nothing to decrease the trade deficit between China and the U.S. It's time to stop taxing Americans to punish the bad behavior of China.” According to the analysed article, American exports to China have dropped significantly. U.S. agricultural sector and auto manufacturers are the first ones to suffer towards these tariffs as China decided to respond back: 25% of U.S. soybeans in 2018. [...]

[...] What is the main goal Trump set himself with this trade war? What does the United States want from China and what is the US endgame? As said Trump's priority isn't free trade anymore but fair trade for his country. Kudlow, the director of the National Economic Council, stated as written in the studied article: “The president has said numerous times his ultimate goal with respect to the world trading system is zero tariffs, zero non-tariff trading barriers and zero subsidies.” He added: “There are considerable benefits to truly free and lawful trading. [...]

[...] Overall, who is the trade war main loser? China? As a matter of fact, American businesses are actually leaving the Chinese territory as unemployment rates waver but some experts confidently affirm this is not a trade war's result. But a real question emerges: does forcing these companies to move out to low-cost countries answer the U.S. unemployment rate? Moreover, these countries do not have the reliable and established manufacturing supply chains they could find in China, which means this can quickly become a problem concerning quality, for example. [...]

[...] goods a month later. From that on, both of these countries have only exchanged tit-for-tat tariffs. But hasn't it had discussions between the two leaders? Well, Trump wanted to discuss an agreement with Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Osaka but was afraid he wouldn't even show up so he threatened to raise tariffs if this latter missed such chance. Xi did show up, the two exchanged about an eventual deal but China has essentially ignored it once Xi left Japan. [...]