By: Azhar Azam
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared in "The Express Tribune":
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2051045/6-trumps-dilemma-trade-deal-china/
After G7 summit, the US President Donald Trump said that he believes China is sincere in seeking a trade deal with him and insisted Beijing wants “to make a deal badly”. He was responding to Chinese Vice Premier Liu He’s comments about China’s willing to resolve trade row through dialogue.
Trump’s softer but bitter riposte to Liu’s call for settling the issues with “calm attitude” was adolescent and redundantly vexatious as in the same remarks, the Chinese leader also stroked hard at the White House policies that were based on trade protectionism and technology blockades.
Also, the archives of China-US trade war manifestly deny the phony claim made by Trump. It is a blatant truth that Beijing has been urging Washington to defuse the warlike situation through talks since long but Trump’s showcasing about the Chinese persistent position as its weak link is outrageous.
The rash statement broke through after the US president came under tremendous pressure from leaders of G7 countries and businessmen, farmers, importers, and exporters of the US to put a full-stop on trade war that has rattled the world economies and people including the US.
Realistically, it is Trump himself who is pleading for a trade deal with Beijing as he is quickly falling short of munitions to hurt China economically in his useless feud. Therefore, he is searching out for a way out that could be dressed up in some sort of dignity and pride for him.
With all his tariff escalations, the US president would have made about 95% of the Chinese goods subject to 15% to 30% tariffs by December 16. While no more room for tariff intensification would remain at the disposal of Trump, this would necessarily mean that he would very soon concede his sole leverage in trade war against China.
His growing curbs to slap more tariffs on Chinese goods are coupled with tumbling Wall Street and the wheeling anxieties among the US manufacturers and exporters who have probably pressed Trump to get paler on Beijing while narrating about China’s sincerity in striking a trade deal with him.
Trump’s weird diplomacy has a serious flaw, which emphatically pivots on building close rapport with the other heads of states and slating their countries. Although he is very belligerent in his rhetoric but he does not shy to flatter his counterparts as well.
He asserts that Chinese President Xi Jinping is his “personal friend” and at the same time, declares China a foreseeable economic and strategic rival of the United States, which bears a significant threat to the US national security.
Last week, the US president took twitter to label Xi an enemy and just in a span of few days, he lavishly praised his Chinese peer as a great leader who is representing a great country. When asked about sudden shift in approach, Trump had a bizarre excuse “Sorry, this is the way I negotiate. The way I negotiate has done very well for me over the years and it’s even doing better for the country.”
The US president must know whether he pans or does he admire, Xi is the president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and so would be the custodian of his country’s and people’s interests. Unlike Trump who has squeezed the future of many Americans, under Xi’s leadership China has pulled more than 700 million people out of poverty.
American would like their president to behave and serve his nation as Xi did for Chinese people. It was an example of American businesses’ trust on China that as soon as Trump ostensibly signaled to resume trade talks with Beijing, the markets at the Wall Street scooped.
Earlier given Trump Friday’s announcement of additional tariffs on China in response to Beijing’s intent to retaliate against US goods, Bloomberg wrote on Tuesday “Going into the traditional Labor Day end of the US summer, the prospects of a peaceful resolution to the trade war that has roiled financial market and helped slow the global economy seem far lower than they were on Memorial Day – and growing more distant week by week.”
The American shouldn’t place high hopes on the US president who has to date has failed to adopt a clear position on constructive trade dialogue instead lied to his folks about receiving a phone call from Chinese side to “get back to the table”, a claim China’s foreign ministry wasn’t aware of.
While Trump shifted and defended his ambition to shift trade war to ordering US manufacturing companies to move out of China, the newest method is doomed to collapse as the experts pointed out that no US president can order to leave a country.
So the stigma of Trump’s failed confrontational policies would keep chasing him until his term is expired or maybe it would continue to haunt him throughout his life.
*This is one of my opinion pieces (unedited) that first appeared in "The Express Tribune":
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2051045/6-trumps-dilemma-trade-deal-china/
After G7 summit, the US President Donald Trump said that he believes China is sincere in seeking a trade deal with him and insisted Beijing wants “to make a deal badly”. He was responding to Chinese Vice Premier Liu He’s comments about China’s willing to resolve trade row through dialogue.
Trump’s softer but bitter riposte to Liu’s call for settling the issues with “calm attitude” was adolescent and redundantly vexatious as in the same remarks, the Chinese leader also stroked hard at the White House policies that were based on trade protectionism and technology blockades.
Also, the archives of China-US trade war manifestly deny the phony claim made by Trump. It is a blatant truth that Beijing has been urging Washington to defuse the warlike situation through talks since long but Trump’s showcasing about the Chinese persistent position as its weak link is outrageous.
The rash statement broke through after the US president came under tremendous pressure from leaders of G7 countries and businessmen, farmers, importers, and exporters of the US to put a full-stop on trade war that has rattled the world economies and people including the US.
Realistically, it is Trump himself who is pleading for a trade deal with Beijing as he is quickly falling short of munitions to hurt China economically in his useless feud. Therefore, he is searching out for a way out that could be dressed up in some sort of dignity and pride for him.
With all his tariff escalations, the US president would have made about 95% of the Chinese goods subject to 15% to 30% tariffs by December 16. While no more room for tariff intensification would remain at the disposal of Trump, this would necessarily mean that he would very soon concede his sole leverage in trade war against China.
His growing curbs to slap more tariffs on Chinese goods are coupled with tumbling Wall Street and the wheeling anxieties among the US manufacturers and exporters who have probably pressed Trump to get paler on Beijing while narrating about China’s sincerity in striking a trade deal with him.
Trump’s weird diplomacy has a serious flaw, which emphatically pivots on building close rapport with the other heads of states and slating their countries. Although he is very belligerent in his rhetoric but he does not shy to flatter his counterparts as well.
He asserts that Chinese President Xi Jinping is his “personal friend” and at the same time, declares China a foreseeable economic and strategic rival of the United States, which bears a significant threat to the US national security.
Last week, the US president took twitter to label Xi an enemy and just in a span of few days, he lavishly praised his Chinese peer as a great leader who is representing a great country. When asked about sudden shift in approach, Trump had a bizarre excuse “Sorry, this is the way I negotiate. The way I negotiate has done very well for me over the years and it’s even doing better for the country.”
The US president must know whether he pans or does he admire, Xi is the president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and so would be the custodian of his country’s and people’s interests. Unlike Trump who has squeezed the future of many Americans, under Xi’s leadership China has pulled more than 700 million people out of poverty.
American would like their president to behave and serve his nation as Xi did for Chinese people. It was an example of American businesses’ trust on China that as soon as Trump ostensibly signaled to resume trade talks with Beijing, the markets at the Wall Street scooped.
Earlier given Trump Friday’s announcement of additional tariffs on China in response to Beijing’s intent to retaliate against US goods, Bloomberg wrote on Tuesday “Going into the traditional Labor Day end of the US summer, the prospects of a peaceful resolution to the trade war that has roiled financial market and helped slow the global economy seem far lower than they were on Memorial Day – and growing more distant week by week.”
The American shouldn’t place high hopes on the US president who has to date has failed to adopt a clear position on constructive trade dialogue instead lied to his folks about receiving a phone call from Chinese side to “get back to the table”, a claim China’s foreign ministry wasn’t aware of.
While Trump shifted and defended his ambition to shift trade war to ordering US manufacturing companies to move out of China, the newest method is doomed to collapse as the experts pointed out that no US president can order to leave a country.
So the stigma of Trump’s failed confrontational policies would keep chasing him until his term is expired or maybe it would continue to haunt him throughout his life.