Trump not against globalization

Won’t raise tariffs on Chinese goods due to fear of retaliation

US President Donald Trump has not come up with clear economic policies yet, but he is not actually against globalization, Richard Cooper, a US economist and professor at Harvard University, said at a conference held in the Beijing International Hotel on Tuesday.

Trump ran his campaign with slogans, but he has not translated them into policies since he entered the White House. For example, he claimed that China is a currency manipulator during the presidential campaign, but he has not taken any action yet, Cooper said.

Trump has so far hesitated to raise tariffs on Chinese goods as advisors warn of China retaliating and bringing the issue to the WTO, Cooper noted.

“He ran his campaign with slogans not policies,” he said, adding that Trump has backed off on some issues such as condemning China for alleged currency manipulation.

If Trump raises tariffs on Chinese exports to the US, it will effectively hurt small and medium- sized enterprises ( SMEs), some of which were also supporters of his presidential campaign, Sang Baichuan, director of the Institute of International Business at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

While the US economy has been recovering from the financial crisis in 2008- 09, the country is seeing a growing gap between the rich and the poor, Sang noted.

“Some of those low- income households that strongly supported Trump also highly rely on cheap products imported from China, for example clothing, shoes, electronics and furniture, and raising tariffs on imports will make them pay more for their daily necessi- ties,” he said.

“Trump is not against globalization,” Cooper said, noting that he is a businessman engaged in globalization. What Trump really worries about is China’s swelling trade surplus with the US.

The US imported goods valued $ 462.81 billion from China, the country’s largest trading partner, in 2016, while it exported $ 115.78 billion to the country, according to the website of the US Census Bureau.

Countries should work together on balancing trade, Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday during the annual China Development Forum in Beijing, and the country is not seeking a larger surplus with other nations.

Cooper noted that no evidence so far shows that Trump will take action against China in terms of his claims about currency manipulation.

“Of course he will not do that, as he has no evidence to show we are manipulating yuan, particularly after the IMF and US research firms have come out denying China’s currency manipulation,” Sang said.

Sang also noted that as a shrewd businessman, Trump knows how to protect his own interests.