Tariff king Trump targets ‘friends and foes alike’
The United States president needs to act like a statesman and tackle ‘the real enemies at the gate’
President Donald Trump has launched a reign of tariff terror on friends and foes alike.
His administration imposed 25% duties on nearly all goods from American allies Canada and Mexico. Another 10% tax hit imports from arch-rival China on top of those already in place, taking the total to 20%.
The measures have been rolled out to “combat the extraordinary threat” to the United States’ “national security posed by unchecked drug trafficking,” the White House reported, highlighting the fentanyl crisis. It went on to call it a “national emergency” on its borders.
Canada and Mexico have reacted with dismay and displeasure, while China has accused Washington of “blackmail” and “vowed to fight to the end.” Yet it comes amid Beijing’s failure to stop the export of chemicals used in the production of the highly-addictive opioid.
“It’s fair to say we’re in the early days of Trade War 2.0 [with China],” Even Pay, an analyst at the research group Trivium China, said as reported by the Reuters news agency.
What happened next:
- Beijing quickly slapped up to 15% duties on a range of American imports, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council announced.
- “A 10 percent tariff will be applied to sorghum, soybeans, pork, beef, seafood, fruits, vegetables and dairy products,” state-run China Daily reported.
We are still funding [China’s] development of advanced technologies.
Derek Scissors, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the chief economist at China Beige Book
Delve deeper: Yet this plunge into a tit-for-tat tariffs conflict might not be the only economic weapon at Washington’s disposal, according to Derek Scissors, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the chief economist at China Beige Book.
Between the lines: “We are still funding [China’s] development of advanced technologies. Yes, the Chinese will make advances anyway. We should, however, finally stop helping them,” he wrote in the National Review under the headline, Why is America investing in an enemy?
Big picture: Amid the anger Trump has vented on Ukraine’s hero President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the pause on US aid, he should remember that Russia and China are the real enemies at the gate. Not Washington’s allies in Europe and across the world.
China Factor comment: Statesmanship is more than just cutting business deals. It is about living up to the principles of the giants that once sat in The Oval Office, such as Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. It is about doing the right thing.