Are you aware of the cause of trade wars? Trade wars are often initiated when one country takes action against the attack imposed by another nation on its government and market by applying unfair trading practices. With this understanding, to protect a nation’s domestic industry or job employment, it may be encouraged to build a trade barrier like a tariff on major products imported from other countries. Possibly, other countries might retaliate, escalating into a full-fledged trade war. A U.S-China trade war also started in this manner. In January 2018, former U.S President Donald Trump set a high amount of tariffs and barriers to China due to a trade deficit, which occurs when a country’s imports exceed exports.
According to another resource, the U.S raised duties on $250 billion in Chinese goods from 25% to 30% and increased tariffs on another $300 billion in products from 10% to 15%. Donald Trump also mentioned that China’s trade policies are unfair because China interrupts fair trade by monopolizing. Thus, he argued the importance of establishing trade barriers is for protecting domestic jobs, security, fairness, and the economy. However, these high tariffs infuriated China. China protested to the United States and responded by imposing high tariffs on U.S goods. More than three years have passed since the start of the U.S-China trade war, but their conflicts are still in progress. Nowadays, despite requests from the U.S business communities to ease tension, current U.S president Joe Biden has pushed ahead of his predecessor’s policies forcibly with anti-China alliances. As the two countries occupy a large part of the global economy, it is critical for other countries to continue paying attention to this conflict.
By: Hanseul Chang