President Donald Trump is heading into another volatile week of his trade wars facing an urgent need to de-escalate the clash he ignited with China before it inflicts deep damage on the US economy.Chinese President Xi Jinping is so far declining US pressure to call his American counterpart to seek a “deal” after the United States imposed 145% tariffs on its superpower rival, setting off a long-feared direct confrontation.This leaves Trump repeatedly assuring Americans that his “great relationship” with the Chinese leader will head off a crisis but unable to initiate talks in a standoff that risks tanking stock markets again and imposing real hardships on Americans.
Despite the uncertainty, Trump is putting on a show of relishing multiple fights he set off, and he lapped up a standing ovation as he took a seat cage-side at a UFC mixed martial arts event in Florida on Saturday night. The president, who styles himself as an ultimate political fighter, told reporters his reception was “somewhat legendary” and showed that “we’re doing a good job.”But the president’s conflict with China is a real-world showdown with far higher stakes.The impasse is so serious because the US and Chinese economies are intricately entwined.
The US relies on China for consumer electronics; rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of electric vehicles and for military applications and robotics; pharmaceuticals used in lifesaving medicines; and more basic staples of daily life, including clothing and shoes. US exports of produce like soybeans and sorghum to China are vital to the livelihoods of American farmers, but the tariffs imposed by both sides are so prohibitive that trade may effectively grind to a halt.Both sides could suffer terribly in a full-blown trade war, and US consumers could be hit by shortages and surging prices.
But some experts believe that China, owing to its authoritarian system of government, would be willing to impose more pain on its populace to avoid losing what could be a defining struggle with the US.Trump’s capacity to play the long game was called into question when he suddenly paused reciprocal tariffs on dozens of nations last week for 90 days after bond market sell-offs began to hint at a developing financial crisis.
That climbdown will have been carefully watched in Beijing. And in seeking to ease one sticky situation, Trump exacerbated another — lashing out at China with his 145% tariffs in an apparent effort to save face.As the chaos worsens, the White House added more confusion Friday night, exempting imports of Chinese-made smartphones and computers from the top tariff rate in an apparent acknowledgment that sky-high levies on those items could hammer the tech industry and US consumers.But on Sunday, the administration insisted that such products would still be subject to new tariffs at a lower level in the coming weeks, raising further questions about its apparently unplanned and knee-jerk stances, which have repeatedly scared markets.
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social. “There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday. These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’ The Fake News knows this, but refuses to report it,” he went on.