Tag: China

How Trump’s ZTE deal could undercut his foreign policy

The following article by Adam Taylor was posted on the Washington Post website May 16, 2018:

President Trump tweeted on May 13 that he has asked the Commerce Department to help Chinese technology company ZTE Corp ‘get back into business, fast.’ (Reuters)

When it comes to foreign policy, we often think of a country’s strength in terms of military might — especially in the United States. After all, the U.S. military budget is by far the largest on Earth. Last year, it was more than twice as big as that of China, the second-biggest military spender.

Of course, the United States also wields enormous economic influence, an asset that may be more powerful even than tanks and soldiers. The American economy is the largest in the world, and that preeminence allows the United States to exert control over many levers of power. The Trump administration, like others before it, knows this well. Continue reading “How Trump’s ZTE deal could undercut his foreign policy”

Penalties against China telecom giant ZTE become a bargaining chip as White House, Chinese officials discuss potential trade deal

The following article by Damian Paletta, Ellen Nakashima, Steven Mufson and Tony Romm was posted on the Washington Post website May 13, 2018:

President Trump tweeted on May 13 that he has asked the Commerce Department to help Chinese technology company ZTE Corp ‘get back into business, fast.’ (Reuters)

The White House and senior Chinese officials are discussing a targeted economic deal that would relax severe penalties on ZTE, a major Chinese telecom company, in exchange for unspecified demands from President Trump, two people briefed on the discussions said Sunday.

The talks are fluid, and President Trump has shown a willingness to veer between extremes in how he interacts with Beijing. But Trump said Sunday on Twitter that he wanted federal regulators to take the unusual step of relaxing penalties on ZTE, even though the Chinese company has been accused of illicitly shipping goods to North Korea and Iran. Continue reading “Penalties against China telecom giant ZTE become a bargaining chip as White House, Chinese officials discuss potential trade deal”

Across Midwest, Farmers Warn of G.O.P. Losses Over Trump’s Trade Policy

The following article by Jonathan Martin was posted on the New York Times website April 18, 2018:

William Hejl of North Dakota is among the many Midwestern farmers in both political parties who are alarmed by the threat of Chinese tariffs on American agriculture and think Republicans could pay a political price. Credit: Dan Koeck, New York Times

CASSELTON, N.D. — Here in the largest soybean-producing county in the country, a snowy winter has left North Dakota farmers like Robert Runck with time on their hands before spring planting — time they have spent stewing over how much they stand to lose if President Trump starts a trade war with China.

“If he doesn’t understand what he’s doing to the nation by doing what he’s doing, he’s going to be a one-term president, plain and simple,” said Mr. Runck, a fourth-generation farmer who voted for Mr. Trump. Pausing outside the post office in this town of 2,300, Mr. Runck said the repercussions could be more immediate for Representative Kevin Cramer, a Republican whose bid against Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, has been complicated by the proposed tariffs. Continue reading “Across Midwest, Farmers Warn of G.O.P. Losses Over Trump’s Trade Policy”

President Trump’s claim that China caused 60,000 U.S. factories to close

The following article by Salvador Rizzo was posted on the Washington Post website March 26, 2018:

The president has harsh words about trade imbalances, but his numbers don’t always add up. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“We’ve lost, over a fairly short period of time, 60,000 factories in our country — closed, shuttered, gone. Six million jobs, at least, gone.”
— President Trump, in remarks at the White House announcing tariffs on Chinese imports, March 22, 2018

Long before he was president, Donald Trump complained that China was “taking all our jobs.” Now, with the executive branch at his command, Trump is getting even with a plan to impose $50 billion to $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports. Continue reading “President Trump’s claim that China caused 60,000 U.S. factories to close”

Can Trump win a trade war with China?

The following article by Ishaan Tharoor was posted on the Washington Post website March 23, 2018:

For years, President Trump has railed against the threat of Chinese trade. China, he said, was operating on an uneven playing field, using unfair trade practices that supposedly harm the U.S. economy, steal American jobs and contribute to a vast trade deficit that now stands at $375 billion.

“The current trade imbalance is not acceptable,” Trump said during a speech before Asian leaders and dignitaries in Vietnam last November. “The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to violations, cheating or economic aggression. Those days are over.”

On Thursday, he finally took action against Beijing. The president announced his decision to impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese imports a year and limit China’s capacity to invest in the American technology industry. Continue reading “Can Trump win a trade war with China?”

Jared Kushner is China’s Trump Card

The following article by Adam Entous and Evan Osnos was posted on the New Yorker Magazine website January 29, 2018:

How the President’s son-in-law, despite his inexperience in diplomacy, became Beijing’s primary point of interest.

Since the election, Beijing intelligence has targeted Kushner as a key asset.Illustration by Barry Blitt

In early 2017, shortly after Jared Kushner moved into his new office in the West Wing of the White House, he began receiving guests. One visitor who came more than once was Cui Tiankai, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, a veteran diplomat with a postgraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. When, during previous Administrations, Cui had visited the White House, his hosts received him with a retinue of China specialists and note-takers. Kushner, President Trump’s thirty-seven-year-old son-in-law and one of his senior advisers, preferred smaller gatherings.

Three months earlier, Cui had been in near-despair. Like many observers, he had incorrectly predicted that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 election; his botched forecast, he told a friend, was precisely the kind of error that dooms the careers of ambassadors in the Chinese diplomatic system. To make matters worse, Cui knew almost nobody in the incoming Administration. Donald Trump had won the election in part by singling out China for “raping” the United States. Continue reading “Jared Kushner is China’s Trump Card”

While Clinching Deals With Communist China, Trump Cracks Down on Trade and Travel to Cuba

The following article by Medea Benjamin was posted on the AlterNet website November 15, 2017:

Photo Credit: Willrow Hood / Shutterstock.com

On Wednesday, November 8, just as President Trump was clinching new business deals with the repressive Communist government of China, the Trump administration announced its new rules rolling back President Obama’s opening with Cuba. The new regulations restricting travel and trade with the Caribbean island will make it once again illegal for Americans to travel to Cuba without a special license from the Treasury Department and will dramatically reduce the number of Americans traveling there.

The regulations, which include a list of 180 banned entities, are supposed to punish hotels, stores and other businesses tied to the Cuban military and instead direct economic activity toward businesses controlled by regular Cuban citizens. But during our visit to the island on a 40-person delegation organized by the peace group CODEPINK, we found that Cuba’s small private businesses, the very sector that the Trump administration wants to encourage, are already feeling the blow. Continue reading “While Clinching Deals With Communist China, Trump Cracks Down on Trade and Travel to Cuba”

We are paving the way for Chinese dominance in clean energy

The following column by Fred Zilian was posted on the Hill website November 12, 2017:

For early baby-boomers, the federal government’s release on Nov. 3 of the comprehensive science report on climate contained few surprises. It simply confirmed what we have been experiencing for six decades.

The central question is whether the U.S. will surrender to Chinese leadership in this key strategic area of clean energy systems while we plod along relying heavily on carbon-based, dirty fuels.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oversaw the report, with input from 12 other federal agencies.

Here are some highlights: Over the past 115 years, the average global temperature has increased 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Global temperature has set highs for the last three years, and six of the last 17 years are the warmest on record. Continue reading “We are paving the way for Chinese dominance in clean energy”

Apple and 7-Eleven show why Trump’s threat to sever China trade over Korea rings hollow

The following article by Greg Wright was posted on the Conversation website September 5, 2017:

President Donald Trump tweeted on September 3 that the U.S. “is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea” after it performed a nuclear test.

Though North Korea currently trades with nearly 100 countries, this threat was almost certainly aimed at China, by far its biggest trading partner.

And it is technically something that a U.S. president can do. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, the president can impose trade restrictions in the face of an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

Continue reading “Apple and 7-Eleven show why Trump’s threat to sever China trade over Korea rings hollow”

6 Countries Trump Has Already Insulted And Provoked

The following article by Steven Rosenfeld was posted on the National Memo website February 5, 2017:

President Trump, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, at the Homeland Security headquarters. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Two weeks into Donald Trump’s belligerent presidency, one must ask: Where will this administration’s launch its first serious international conflict?

The White House’s announcement Friday of narrow economic sanctions against Iran, in response to its dumb test firing of a missile, came after Trump made it sound like Iran had done something outsized and horrific. It hadn’t. Still, the president tweeted hours before announcing the sanctions, “Iran is playing with fire” and, “They don’t appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!” Continue reading “6 Countries Trump Has Already Insulted And Provoked”