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Jackson Feng
John Converse
7June
The trade war between China and the U.S.
The trade war between China and the U.S. started in January 2018, Donald Trump had
increased the import duties on solar panels and washing machines to 30 % and 20-25 %
respectively.On 8th March, he imposed tariffs of 25 % on steel imports and 10 % on aluminium
imports.On 22nd March, he imposed tariffs on goods and services worth $60 billion imported from
China.On 23rd March, the US launched a complaint against China in WTO for breaking Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) rules, he has also blocked Chinese takeovers of US companies.The U.S.
impose tariffs on Chinese imports because the US has a massive trade deficit of $504 billion dollars
with China. Donald Trump mentioned in his speech that it is the largest deficit of any country in the
history of our world.The US has targeted to reduce this deficit by $100 billion. Hence, the
tariffs.The US also wants to protect its domestic producers from competition from cheap Chinese
products.In the short run, the US might benefit at the expense of China. Data from the National
Bureau of Statistics show that China exported nearly $200 billion of electronics, information and
communication, and aerospace-related products to the US in 2017, accounting for 46 percent of its
exports to the US, 9 percent of its total exports, and 1.6 percent of China’s GDP.
But, in the long run, no one will be the winner.Free trade is beneficial to all. A trade war will
ultimately harm the United States and its consumers. The consumers will have to pay higher
prices.It will also not address trade deficit of the US. As per economic theory, the difference
between exports and imports (trade deficit) should be equivalent to the difference between savings
and investment. If the US does not encourage savings, the reduction in the trade deficit with China
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will be compensated by an increase in the trade deficit with other countries.It would not be able to
protect US jobs. Analysis by trade Partnership, a consultancy suggests tariffs would cause nearly 13
jobs to be lost for every one gained in the steel and aluminium production.This will maybe effect
our citizens live. For example, if I go to the burger king, and buy a hamburger, if it is before the
trade war, I maybe will only use 20 RMB, but if it is during the trade war, I will maybe use 30RMB
or even more to buy it, because most of the material of the burgers in the burger king are mostly
import from the America. (source from: Economyria, Newsweek, Forbes, CNBC)
In a conclusion, the trade war that between China and U.S. is not good for everyone. It is a
lose-lose ,no one get benefit in the trade war and it will make both country lose a lot of money. And
the people without a job’s amount may increase a lot.