China-bashing poisons US politics
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 27, 2015
The U.S. and China have had a number of disputes about trade practices during Obama's tenure. American makers of solar panels claim China unfairly subsidizes its own solar panels. In 2012, the U.S. slapped "anti-dumping" tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels, raising them to 165 percent in late 2014. Similarly, the U.S. imposed anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese tires. According to the Wall Street Journal, imports of Chinese tires plummeted by 15 percent after the tariffs were introduced, while prices for American tire consumers rose by 5 percent.
China has also created trade restrictions on some products, notably American chickens, and a 9 percent tariff on imported G.M. and Chrysler automobiles in 2011, amid claims of dumping and subsidizing, on top of already high import taxes.
Retaliatory tariffs rarely have a long-term effect of protecting jobs in the U.S. Consumers and producers can switch to a third country, and the tariffs don't address the underlying reasons that caused outsourcing in the first place.
It's almost as if the candidates are ignoring history, proposing new tariffs like they were a novel idea.
While these tariffs have been justified by claiming that China is playing by different rules, Trump also opposes free trade deals that would even out those disparities. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, while it doesn't include China, would cut down tariffs imposed by Asian countries like Japan, making it easier for America to export agricultural and other products there, but Trump is against it. Most of the leading Republican candidates disagree with him on trade, although long-shots like Carly Fiorina, Huckabee, and Bobby Jindal also oppose TPP, with Fiorina specifically citing her fear that China will later join.
Huckabee also railed against Asian countries, stating that, "[F]olks are getting the jobs in China, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia." Notably, Japan is a member of TPP, and South Korea and Indonesia are potential members, so U.S. trade would actually be made easier with those countries if the agreement were to pass. And Germany, with whom America has its third highest trade deficit, never rates a mention.
On the Democratic side, many of the candidates raise similar concerns. Bernie Sanders, who is second in the polls, also names China and Mexico when voicing his opposition to the TPP, again despite the fact that China isn't a member.
Most of the candidates who support free trade and oppose issuing new tariffs too easily have been less vocal about their views. Extolling the virtues of the globalized economy doesn't sell well with voters who think they are being hurt by globalism. But the silence of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio speaks volumes. They probably won't elaborate on their positions until questioned directly, but there's no doubt foreign bashing has a lot of life left in it for this election.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm
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