But, hey...After 14 months in office Donald Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to crack down on what he has long labelled China’s unfair trade practices by rolling out plans for new tariffs on up to $60bn in Chinese imports and other sanctions against Beijing.
That has provoked fears of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies, with China likely to retaliate against politically sensitive US exports such as soyabeans grown in farm states that swung behind Mr Trump in the 2016 election.
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The move is in response to what the administration says has been a co-ordinated strategy by Beijing to force US companies to hand over intellectual property to do business in China.
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A specific list of products to be hit with the tariffs is due to be presented within 15 days. It will be subject to a public comment period after that. Not likely to be included, US officials indicated, are many consumer electronics products, such as iPhones.
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Together with reforms of Cfius now being pursued by Congress, the new measures could present major new barriers to Chinese foreign direct investment in the US, which was worth almost $30bn last year and reached a record $45bn in 2016.
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One wrinkle: the case is likely to take more than a year to litigate and it comes as the US is trying to force reform in the WTO’s dispute settlement system by blocking the appointment of new appellate judges.
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Beijing has made clear that it will not take any US action lightly and has already begun to point to potential targets such as Boeing aircraft and US soyabeans.
“China is the largest export market for US aircraft and soybeans, and the second largest export market for automobiles and cotton,” the Chinese foreign ministry pointed out on Thursday.
US soyabean farmers, who have been losing market share to Brazil in recent years, are particularly concerned.
Financial Times
Or not.
Well, that's the way he counts.
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