{"id":3440,"date":"2020-09-06T11:19:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-06T16:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/104.131.56.60\/?p=3440"},"modified":"2020-09-06T11:19:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-06T16:19:13","slug":"trump-is-soft-on-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/united-states\/trump-is-soft-on-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump is Soft on China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite campaign bluster, Trump has failed to take on the threat of the rising superpower. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has long seen his trade war with China as a way to secure his re-election. A closer look at his dealings with the United States\u2019 rival superpower, however, reveals that Americans have borne the brunt<\/a> of his trade war\u2019s pain. And while blaming China in whole for the coronavirus crisis, he has gifted the emerging rival a concerning, increasing influence<\/a> over the World Health Organization. At best, his China policy is pure talk. At worst, it is a gleaming opportunity for the country to finally replace the U.S. as the world\u2019s leading superpower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before the pandemic, Trump\u2019s distaste for China was the central theme of his presidency. Upon taking office, he almost immediately began to fulminate against America\u2019s trade deficit with China and the country\u2019s unfair copyright practices. He met with Chinese president Xi Jinping in April 2017 to talk over such issues; these talks stalled immediately. Flying in the face of contemporary economic wisdom, Trump then started a tariff war with a country on which the U.S. is all but economically dependent, both in debt holdings and imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talks stalled for two reasons: one, because the Chinese do not take Trump seriously, and two, because Trump does not understand his own policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time and time again, Trump has declared that China<\/em> is the one paying the steep tariffs he set for goods imported to the U.S. He is completely wrong. Such a statement is entirely antithetical to the reality of protectionist trade. In fact, American consumers are paying the tariffs almost in their entirety<\/a>. They are a tax on Americans, plain and simple. The U.S. is not even close to \u201ctaxing the hell out of China,\u201d as Trump says. The self-proclaimed Tariff Man is increasing the price<\/a> paid by Americans for goods which are crucial for American manufacturing and business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

….I am a Tariff Man. When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so. It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN<\/p>\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote> \n\n\n\n

Under normal circumstances, fiscal conservatives would be enraged by such flagrant violations of the policies of free trade that they have championed for decades. However, in typical fashion of the Trump administration, the blind obedience of his base\u2014and its willingness to parrot campaign talking points\u2014has subdued any vocal criticism from the political right. As the Trade War costs farmers billions<\/a> in exports due to retaliatory tariffs from China on things like soybeans and cotton, Republican senators from America\u2019s heartland stand by<\/a> hardline negotiation tactics which have yet to bear fruit. If they continue to support him in November, it would not be the first time that conservatives have turned a blind eye to Trump\u2019s errors in the name of party unity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, a consensus of economists note that trade deficits are not necessarily<\/a> a bad thing. Trade deficits occur when countries import more value than they export. The United States\u2019 most valuable exports are services like finance and intellectual property, and the country imports commodities and industrial products. Therefore, lowering the trade deficit with China is a boon for blue-collar, low-skilled, and often low-paid jobs. Trump focuses only on increasing the number of jobs while lacking an understanding that that some jobs allow for higher standards of living than others. While most Americans would likely prefer a higher paying, white-collar job over working in a factory, Trump\u2019s laser focus on his blue-collar base prioritizes them over all else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, Trump has been completely unable to reduce the deficit. In 2016\u2014when Trump accused China of \u201craping<\/a>\u201d the U.S. \u2014the trade deficit was $347 billion. For 2019, it was $345 billion. In the words of Brookings Institute China expert Ryan Hass, \u201cAmericans got their shit kicked out of them in the exact area where President Trump said he would solve their problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump may not be able to understand or execute his own policies, but one thing he does understand is a fellow dictator. Repeatedly, Trump has been a fawning sycophant toward Xi Jinping, especially on Twitter. As the outbreak worsened in January \u2013 of course, months before Trump would take any action against the virus \u2013 he tweeted that \u201cChina has been working very hard to contain the coronavirus.\u201d (A PRC-sympathetic newspaper from Hong Kong noted Trump\u2019s kowtow with pride<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All Bark, No Bite<\/strong> – The number of Trump tweets about China since January 1, 2017 show increasing references to the country as the 2020 re-election contest nears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Graphic by Nicholas Purchase, data from trumptwitterarchive.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many right-wing pundits\u2014and even Trump\u2019s advisors<\/a>\u2014warn not to take his tweets literally. It’s a consistent conservative defense to say that Trump should be taken “seriously” or “symbolically,” but not literally. Then maybe Trump\u2019s private conversations with Xi would be more telling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a private fundraiser in 2018, Trump said<\/a> of Xi, \u201c\u201cHe\u2019s now president for life, president for life. And he\u2019s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it\u2019s great. Maybe we\u2019ll have to give that a shot someday.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a book by former National Security Adviser John Bolton\u2014a man hired by Trump himself for the most important national security role in the world\u2014Trump repeatedly sympathized with Xi\u2019s dictatorial tendencies and begged for help in his own re-election. Bolton writes that Trump was \u201cpleading with Xi to ensure he\u2019d win.\u201d Trump apparently begged China to buy more American soybeans, effectively asking for Xi\u2019s help in reversing the consequences of his own trade war. In an abhorrent disregard for human rights, Trump also told Xi that building concentration camps for China\u2019s Muslim minority was \u201cexactly the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his own apparent adulation for Xi Jinping, Trump soon took to calling Covid-19 the \u201cChina Virus\u201d in his tweets and press conferences. Curiously, this practice began soon after the National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a 57-page memo<\/a> imploring Republicans to \u201cattack China\u201d when asked about the virus. Inevitably, liberals called this practice racist<\/a>, immediately turning the coronavirus crisis into a culture war, Trump\u2019s most comfortable territory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final component of Trump\u2019s disastrous China policy was the U.S.\u2019s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. When it became clear that blaming China alone was not enough to shift the blame from his own mishandling of the crisis, he began attacking<\/a> the world\u2019s sole global public health institution. He blamed China for pressuring the WHO to \u201cmislead the world.\u201d As a result, the U.S. decided to cease funding the organization when, previously, it was the single largest contributor.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His complaints are baseless: the WHO warned<\/a> the world about the virus on January 5, identified it by January 7, and sequenced it by January 12. And Trump\u2019s defunding of it will hand the organization to China on a silver platter. The lack of funding in such a crucial time will leave a gaping hole in the WHO\u2019s finances which China will be eager to fill. Now that it will be by far the largest funder of the World Health Organization and there is no American governmental monetary influence to contend with, China is free to influence the WHO however it likes. Trump\u2019s obtuse attempt to shift blame away from himself and control the news cycle has irreversibly damaged American global influence and put China on an even stronger course to be a true global superpower. Willingly giving up such valuable soft power is not good leadership. Trump\u2019s policy will worsen exactly the problem he protested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is an important issue, and one which Americans increasingly<\/a> care about. In 2005, the Pew Research Center began tracking Americans\u2019 views toward China. Then, 35 percent of the country said it had an unfavorable view \u2013 today, 66 percent do. Nearly a quarter of Americans (24 percent) view China as the greatest threat to the United States, tied with Russia. Intellectual property theft makes it risky or impossible for American companies to do business in China. There was a coronavirus coverup<\/a>. Chinese officials did, in fact, censor posts about the virus and arrest journalists and physicians who criticized the Communist Party\u2019s response. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue, as with many other important policy areas during the last few years, demonstrates a lack of a coordinated, facts-based strategy in the Trump administration. Strategy which, at the end of the day, can be entirely usurped by a late-night tweet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite campaign bluster, Trump has failed to take on the threat of the rising superpower.  Trump has long seen his trade war with China as a way to secure his re-election. A closer look at his dealings with the United States\u2019 rival superpower, however, reveals that Americans have borne the brunt of his trade war\u2019s pain. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":3520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[29,92,364],"class_list":{"0":"post-3440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-2020-election","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-trump","11":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.bowdoin.edu\/bowdoin-review\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}