Trump's China tariffs are about more than just trade

[nitpicker]

https://www.dw.com/en/trumps-china-tariffs-are-about-more-than-just-trade/a-48623772

Trump's China tariffs are about more than just trade

Date 10.05.2019
Author Ashutosh Pandey

US President Donald Trump on Friday ramped up tariffs on $200 billion (€178 billion) worth of Chinese imports, citing the slow pace of trade talks with Beijing. Chinese consumer products — including cell phones, computers, clothing and toys — are especially targeted by the tariff rate increase from 10% to 25%. The move comes even as US and Chinese officials are in Washington to take part in talks aimed at ending a trade war between the world's largest economies.

The increase is "a reminder that the trade negotiations have a high degree of uncertainty," Max Zenglein, head of the economics program at Berlin's Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), told DW. "The underlying issue is an increasing rivalry between the US and China which goes far beyond the trade deficit."

The US and China have been locked in negotiations since Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to a ceasefire in their bitter trade war after the G20 summit in Argentina in December.

"I can see two possible goals Trump is trying to achieve. First, focused on US domestic audiences, he wants to appear to be 'tough' on China, and to maintain his image among domestic constituencies as a trade warrior fighting on behalf of the US," Geoffrey Gertz, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told DW.

"Second, he and his advisers may be hoping this will increase pressure on China and convince them to agree to a deal; however, this may backfire, as Chinese negotiators need to be responsive to China's domestic politics as well, and it will be difficult for them to appear to be bowing to foreign pressure."
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