Over the course of his presidency,
President Trump has placed significant pressure on China to come to a
fair trade agreement with the U.S. The question is — how did the trade
war, which has been called “the most costly trade conflict” in economic
history, get to this point?
President Trump has a long history of criticizing China for unfair trade
practices. He often cited a $500 billion trade deficit between the two
countries, during his 2016 presidential campaign.
“We can’t allow China to rape our country, and that’s what they’re doing,” he stated.
Trade negotiations started shortly after the president took office in
2017, where they made a 100-day action plan in hopes of resolving trade
differences. However, such differences could not be resolved in that
time frame. This resulted in the president’s first China-specific trade
tariffs on July 6, 2018. The measure targeted $34 billion worth of
Chinese goods, causing Beijing to retaliate with tariffs of equal value.
Since then, the U.S. has implemented a number of hikes on Chinese
products. They have culminated into $250 billion of tariffs applied
toward Chinese goods as of September of last year, with China
implementing a total of $110 billion on U.S. exports in return.
Following months of negotiations, both countries agreed to a temporary
truce in December 2018, which was meant to last through January 1, 2019.
Following the truce, it seemed increasingly possible that a trade deal
could be reached. Both sides expressed optimism for where the
negotiations were headed.
“We’re trying to work out a trade deal with China — I think it will
happen, something will happen, but it’s a very big deal,” said President
Trump. “If it does happen, it will be by far the largest trade deal
ever made.”
This led to both sides agreeing to extend the truce until March 1, 2019
and then again indefinitely until President Trump announced a new tariff
hike on May 5, 2019. President Trump defended his decision by saying
higher tariffs would make China more likely to come to an agreement
faster. The tariffs went into effect Friday at midnight, with both sides
itching to come to an agreement.
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