The deal signed Wednesday has some victories for Mr. Trump: China has pledged to buy an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods and services by 2021 and to aggressively address trade practices that the Trump administration has criticized. But the text of the agreement does not provide enough information to determine how it will work in practice and it is not certain that China will interpret it differently from the United States. An analysis by the Peterson Institute for International Economics showed that in January 2018, before the start of the trade war, China imposed uniform tariffs of 8% on average on all its importers. By June 2019, tariffs on U.S. imports had risen to 20.7%, while tariffs on other countries had fallen to 6.7%. [212] The analysis also showed that average U.S. tariffs on Chinese products rose from 3.1% in 2017 to 24.3% in August 2019. [213] Sales of cars, trucks and parts in the United States also fell to only 33% of the previous target. Before the trade war, China was the second largest export market for U.S.
vehicles. In July 2018, China returned the favor against Trump`s tariffs with a 25% tariff on U.S. cars. U.S. exports then fell by more than a third due to the relocation of production for Chinese consumers to other sites and the non-recovery of U.S. exports since then. Tesla, for example, announced in late 2018 that it would accelerate construction of a new plant in Shanghai and relocate U.S. production to Chinese consumers. The company stressed that Trump`s tariffs on auto parts and China`s retaliatory measures against finished cars had not made U.S. exports to China competitive. In response to this trade war policy, BMW has relocated some of its production from South Carolina to China.5 Trump`s complaints about China`s imports have historically focused on manufacturing, which accounts for 70% of the products covered by purchase commitments4.
instead of exporting from America. and subsidizing sectors such as steel and aluminum, which would push U.S. companies out of export markets. U.S. government officials say they will push China to limit its use of subsidies in the next round of negotiations. The United States is also working with the European Union and Japan to address Chinese subsidies to the World Trade Organization. Domestic coverage of the trade war is censored in China. While news agencies are allowed to cover the conflict, their reports are subject to restrictions; The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese media employees were ordered not to “overestimate” the trade war,[263] while a New York Times article reported that state news agencies had tried to promote the official line, with the authorities limiting the use of the term “trade war.” [260] Social media posts about the conflict are also subject to censorship.
[264] [265] Economists around the world estimate that the trade war will bring growth down by more than 0.5%. But some countries have benefited from the struggle, which is estimated to have diverted $165 billion to trade. The CEOs of U.S. steelmakers Nucor Corp, United States Steel Corp, ArcelorMittal SA and Commercial Metals Co have backed all of Trump`s steel rights against China[300] as well as the United Steelworkers Union. [302] [303] [304] [305] [279] Scott Paul, President of the Associated Alliance for American Manufacturing, also supported tariffs[286][306] and rejected proposals to cancel them in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. [307] In 2019, he criticized the stagnation of trade negotiations, saying, “Trump would have tore any Democrat apart for this result.” [308] At an elaborate ceremony at the White House, with cabinet members, legislators and executives of the largest U.S. company, Mr.