Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, speaks via video chat at the 4th China Fortune Forum on July 7. (Photo/Caijing Magazine )
Many experts, scholars, officials and the media in the world have condemned the Trump administration's trade policy. They have expressed concern about the consequences and pointed out that Trump's "America First" policy will not succeed.
Despite their misgivings and China's own tremendous efforts during several months of intense discussions, Trump has gone his own way, and the trade dispute between China and the United States has evolved into a trade war, perhaps the largest in human history.
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, expressed his concerns about the trade war via video chat at the 4th China Fortune Forum on July 7 held in the coastal city of Qingdao, saying he believes that "US foreign taxes are actually paid by US citizens."
“The United States should stop continuing to introduce high fees. If not lowered, all former US tax cuts will be deducted from corporate tax and reduced development. Benefits, including different savings and investments, will come to be compensated by the tariff policy,” said China.org.cn.
Julio Rios, director of the China Policy Observation Center of Spain, said in an interview with the China Media Group on July 6 that the ultimate goal of the US in provoking a trade war is to maximize its own interests and maintain its world hegemony in responding to the rise of China.
He said that the trade war will affect international economic relations as well as the economic development of many countries, and even cause a series of chain reactions as other countries may follow up to safeguard their own interests and take up tariffs as a weapon to protect themselves.
He also stressed that the global impact of this trade war is comparable to the global financial crisis triggered by the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, and the world is worried.
Siegfried Bracke, the speaker of the House of Representatives of Belgium, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Media Group that the Trump administration’s reason for provoking the trade war was to honor an election promise.
But the practice of an economy adding additional tariffs to another is against the rules of free trade. In the medium and long-term, Trump’s “America First” policy will not succeed.
Opinion columnist Paul Krugman from the New York Times directly criticized Trump’s policy in an article titled "How to Lose a Trade War," in which he wrote, “Trump’s tariffs are badly designed even from the point of view of someone who shares his crude mercantilist view of trade. In fact, the structure of his tariffs so far is designed to inflict maximum damage on the US economy, for minimal gain.”
Krugman said it is hard to see any strategy in Trump’s tariffs, and nobody can even figure out what, exactly, Trump wants from China in the first place.
“Trade wars aren’t good or easy to win even if you know what you’re trying to accomplish and have a clear strategy for getting there. What’s notable about the Trump tariffs, however, is that they’re so self-destructive,” the Nobel Prize-winning economist wrote.
Krugman’s opinion was echoed by Bloomberg, which said that besides tariffs, “China also has other ways to retaliate by going after US companies such as Apple Inc. and Walmart Inc., which operate in its market and are keen to expand. It could introduce penalties such as customs delays, tax audits, and increased regulatory scrutiny, while more drastic steps include devaluing the yuan or paring 1.2 trillion US dollars holdings of US Treasuries.”
One analyst said on CNN believes that although the tariffs imposed by China and the US on each other will not have much impact on the US economy, the United States may suffer serious losses if the trade war continues,
“The risk of a global trade war could sink the US economy into a recession, bringing an end to the second-longest expansion in American history,” CNN reported on July 6.
Given the performance of Trump since he took office, the sharp criticism from the experts, scholars, and the media will not change his will. He declared a trade war with China, but China is not fighting alone.
Earlier, the EU, Canada, Mexico, India, Turkey and other countries launched a counterattack against the US trade tariffs, and the world is forming an increasingly powerful force against US trade bullying.
