Washington: The trade war between the United States and China seems to be flaring up. A few days ago, the US President had announced heavy taxes on the Steel and Aluminium imported from China. The international financial institutions and analysts had warned that these taxes will trigger a trade war. Following this, the US President has decided to impose fresh tariffs of about $60 billion on the Chinese goods and an announcement is expected shortly. There are about 100 goods in this list including technology, telecom and consumer goods.
US President Donald Trump had referred to China as ‘Bandit Looting the United States’ during his Presidential election campaign and had said that this loot will be stopped if he came to power. After taking over as the President, Trump openly challenged China with the inclusion of officers opposing this Chinese ‘looting’ in his cabinet. An inquiry was also instituted to investigate the malpractices in the Sino-US trade.
In the month of February, Trump announced impositions of large tariffs on the import of Steel and Aluminium from China and issued an ordinance to this effect. This decision by the US President evoked severe reactions from the international community along with China. The international scholars, financial institutions and the US allies warned that this decision by President Trump is an indication of ‘International Trade War’. Fears were expressed that this will affect the international economy along with the United States.
A few days ago, leading industry organisations in the United States through a letter, appealed President Trump to not to impose tariffs on China. But President Trump has taken the decision to impose new taxes, ignoring the appeal. The officers in the administration said that the tariffs will be imposed on the Chinese goods in accordance with the ‘US Trade Act, 1974’.
The indications are that the new tariffs will include electronics, telecom and consumer goods along with the Information Technology sector. According to the information received from the sources, around 100 goods of Chinese origin will be on the taxation list and the value of these taxes will be in excess of $60 billion. The United States and China signed a bilateral trade agreement in 2017 for $700 billion and the United States has incurred losses of $375 billion in this.
Against the background of the new taxes being imposed by Trump, the Chinese Prime minister Li Keqiang has promised to take steps to further open up the Chinese economy.+(Courtesy: www.newscast-pratyaksha.com)
