President Trump authorized a probe into China’s international trade practices in an effort to resolve longstanding difficulties dealing with the eastern nation. While some are calling it the prelude to a trade war, the White House maintains the administration is simply going to investigate the situation in order to bring existing unfair trade practices to light.
Should these efforts succeed in uncovering a one-sided dealing that has been a prerequisite for doing business with China for so long, the US may be able to finally get a square deal in future trade relations.
The trade relationship between the United States and China has been a major topic for Donald Trump since he flirted with a political career in 2012. Today, leading economists around the world recognize that in order to do business with China, companies have had to sign away key rights, making dealing with Beijing very difficult.
This has been the case for the better part of the 20th century and beyond that. In order to do business with China, organizations are required to relinquish the rights to their intellectual property. This gives China all the benefits of ordinary international trade with a massive access to technology, literature, and other information that no other country benefits from. The result over previous decades has been obvious with copycat products flowing out of the country being made from inferior materials at cut-rate prices.
Using this approach, China has been able to devastate international competition, and the American worker has always taken the brunt of it.
“I’m directing the United States Trade Representative to examine China’s policies, practices, and actions with regard to the forced transfers of American technology and the theft of American intellectual property,” the president said during a press conference.
Trump had been residing at his New Jersey golf resort with plans to return to Washington to deliver his official announcement for his probe into China’s trade practices.
At the moment, pundits are speculating that Trump’s move will spark a destructive trade war between the US and China. However, Trump has suggested that part of the plan will be to make the international community aware of China’s trade behavior with nations around the world, which has been extremely one-sided for many years. Trump believes that when knowledge of China’s unfair practices is widespread, China will not be able to stand behind it any longer. He believes they will be pressured by an international accord and global popular outcry to abandon their unfair tactics.
“As President of the United States, it’s my responsibility to protect the American workers, technology, and industry from unfair and abusive actions,” Trump added in his presser. “We will stand up to any country that unlawfully forces American companies to transfer their valuable technology as a condition for gaining access to the Chinese market.”
As usual, many in the mainstream media are calling Trump’s actions unhinged and racist. It bears mentioning in order to reinforce the fact that mainstream media appears to be little more than a propaganda tool for entities in favor of maintaining an unfair trade balance with China. Furthermore, we now know that previous presidents have been just as frustrated with Beijing’s tactics, but only President Trump has committed his administration to changing these conditions.
Many have struggled to understand how such unbalanced trade between nations can go on for so long. For one thing, China represents the single largest consumer population in the world. The disposable income of the average American is about $3,000 per month, while that of the average Chinese citizen is about $1,000.
However, when you consider that the population of China is roughly 1.3 billion, this changes the metric entirely. Compared to America’s 350,000 million, that makes China easily the largest consumer market on Earth. This explains how access to this market can serve as a major bargaining chip. It’s a market that’s so large, companies are grudgingly willing to part with vital trade secrets for access.
“We will combat the counterfeiting and piracy that destroys American jobs,” Trump continued. “We will enforce the rules of fair and reciprocal trade that form the foundation of responsible commerce, and we will protect forgotten Americans who have been left behind by a global trade system that has failed to look out for their interests.”
~ Conservative Zone
