China ready to pay any price in trade war with US

“We don’t want a trade war, but we aren’t afraid of fighting one”.

President Donald Trump instructed the US trade representative to consider slapping an additional $100 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods Thursday in a dramatic escalation of the trade dispute between the two countries.

The back-and-forth between the global superpowers is setting off fears of a trade war. Instead, as far as I can tell, all Trump has is an instinctive suspicion of China, a desire to punish and dominate them in a way that will be interpreted as delivering benefits to blue-collar white Americans – but no idea as to how to achieve that end, much less the determination and savvy negotiating skills it would take to achieve it.

The official Xinhua news agency said late on Wednesday that the USA tariffs proposal would cost the United States “dearly”.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, supports President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, but he hopes negotiations side step a trade war. More tariffs are potentially on the way, too. White has been farming all his life and with planting season just around the corner, he’s watching the weather and the news about trade with China, concerned about a possible trade war. “That’s a possibility, (but) nobody knows how many tonnes are in it”, said U.S. Soybean Export Council Asia Director Paul Burke.

Shortly after Washington issued its list, China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization urged all of the trade body’s members to join with China to counter USA trade abuses. So, without thinking it through completely, Trump has told his trade people to do the same, but double it!

“When you’re already $500 Billion DOWN, you can’t lose!” the president writes on Twitter, referring to the 2016 USA deficit in goods and services trade, which he has repeatedly pointed out. The trade war is a cause for concern for India, though a lot will depend on the details of the U.S. tariff plans and the products both these countries will be targeting.

“If it hits fast, there will probably be macro shots, you’ll have repercussions with stock markets and you may have layoffs”, Robinson said.

“Beijing also has a number of tools at its disposal to make Trump’s trade action painful for United States consumers and potentially politically costly for Trump”.

And so there is threat of war in the air most days, and that means every kind of war, including trade wars, wars against immigrants, wars against the news media, renewed cold wars or arms races. Overall trade with China previous year brought $2.3 billion into this state’s economy. “We call on both sides to halt unproductive and escalatory rhetoric, recognizing that these words and actions have global consequences”.

That reasoning has always been a no-go among WTO member states, because they understand that triggering trade disputes under a “national security” framework could eventually render the WTO meaningless.

On Wednesday, China responded with its own list of products to be subject to an additional 25% tariff, reports China’s Xinhua News Agency. Companies directly protected by new tariffs win, but companies that use foreign-made inputs and companies that sell into foreign markets both lose. If large losses result, it will serve as vindication for the many economists, think-tank researchers and pundits who believe trade war is a net loser. The list was worked hard upon to lessen the pain felt by American consumers and Chinese businesses. That has rattled Republicans from agricultural states.

Trump imposed the first set of tariffs on Chinese goods to punish the country for intellectual property theft that he says has caused the US economic damage.