China shows it’s in for long haul as Trump tariffs bite
Country runs advertorial in Des Moines Register
WASHINGTON» President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised a clean, quick victory over China in a trade war. But as hostilities between the world’s two largest economies turn uglier, the Chinese government is demonstrating that it is prepared for a protracted fight.
China on Saturday canceled negotiations planned for this week in Washington and military talks scheduled in Beijing. On Sunday, the regime stepped up a publicrelations campaign against President Trump’s trade offensive by running a fourpage advertorial in the Des Moines Register. And with new U.S. tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports biting Monday, Beijing is answering with duties of its own on $60 billion of American exports. The government is also releasing a report accusing the U.S. of waging a foreign policy based on “trade bullying.”
The Trump administration is only further ratcheting up penalties for what it has identified as Chinese trading abuses and beyond, according to Axios’ Jonathan Swan. He reports the White House is preparing to “launch a major, ‘administrationwide,’ broadside” against the country in the coming weeks. Per Swan, “The White House plans to unveil new information about China’s hostile actions against America’s public and private sectors, and to act on it.”
But for the time being, Beijing’s responses indicate at a minimum that it isn’t ready to fold in the face of intensifying U.S. pressure and suggest the government intends to make good on its pledge not to negotiate a trade truce under duress.
“This trade war is seen by Beijing as a longterm affair, whereas President Trump is not seen by Beijing as a longterm leader,” High Frequency Economics chief economist Carl Weinberg wrote in a Sunday note to clients. “President Xi (Jinping) can patiently sit out U.S. trade aggression while pursuing China’s industrial policy, and wait to deal anew with the next U.S. president.”
That said, the Wall Street Journal’s Lingling Wei reports that some Chinese officials are eyeing the period after the midterm elections as a more promising opportunity to reengage in talks. Trump and Xi will have a chance to talk in person in late November when they attend the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires.
“So far, Beijing’s strategy has been to respond forcefully to the Trump administration’s trade offensive,” Wei writes. “But because China imports less from the U.S. — just under $130 billion last year — than vice versa, Beijing is running out of products to penalize. If Beijing moves to retaliate by targeting American businesses operating in China, as some officials have proposed, the country’s leadership runs the risk of souring the foreigninvestment environment and causing foreign capital to flee at a time the Chinese economy is slowing.”
U.S. business interests in China are already warning of that possibility in urging the Trump administration to back off.
As Jake Parker, vice president of China operations at the U.S.China Business Council, told my colleague Danielle Paquette over the weekend, “We encourage both sides to resume a resultsoriented dialogue in earnest.”
The White House is likely more inclined to listen to Americans closer to home, a dynamic Beijing is factoring into its approach. The regime paid for an insert that appeared Sunday in Iowa’s largest newspaper.
The Trump administration has been trying to mitigate the damage for farmers, disbursing $25.8 million this month as part of a $12 billion bailout designed to help them cope with the trade war’s disruptions.