From Skirmish to Battle

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s the clock struck midnight last Thursday, the US and China took one step closer to all-out trade war, as the Trump administration placed 25% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports, almost half of the total. China immediately threatened unspecified “necessary countermeasures,” in addition to the tariffs it has placed so far on US imports. The US-China confrontation had gone quiet as expectations grew that a trade deal would end the standoff, which began in March 2018. But last week, as reports emerged of China backtracking on key US demands, Trump tweeted a threat to hike the tariffs.

What does the US want?

1. A stop to decades-long trade abuses, including forced intellectual property transfer as a condition for US firms doing business in China, and systematic theft of US trade secrets
2. An end to China’s boosting its exports by artificially keeping the yuan weak
3. Enactment of these changes into Chinese law, rather than merely via treaty, to force the Communist country to honor its commitments
4. To wind down the supply chains built up over decades that have made China the workshop of the world. As Trump tweeted last week: “Build your products in the United States and there are NO TARIFFS!”

Spotlight on Robert Lighthizer

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is one of Washington’s most powerful people, yet he’s far from famous. He represents Trump in trade talks with China, the EU, and the world, and his views on trade make him the president’s alter ego.

Lighthizer has long believed America’s workers are being hammered by globalization. “If China is allowed to join the WTO on the lenient terms that it has been demanding, virtually no manufacturing job in this country will be safe,” he warned in 1997.

A tough negotiator, his Japanese counterparts nicknamed him “Missile Man” after he folded a draft agreement into a paper airplane and threw it back at them.