Tag: China

Trump says he raised Hunter Biden allegations with his China go-between

Washington Post logoPresident Trump, who has alleged that Hunter Biden got the Chinese to put $1.5 billion into an investment fund, said during private remarks this week that he raised the matter with a U.S. executive who has served as his intermediary on trade talks with Beijing.

Trump’s comments could attract interest in light of the impeachment inquiry underway by House Democrats. That investigation focuses on the president’s effort to extract information about Hunter Biden’s job on a Ukrainian gas company’s board at a time when his father was overseeing U.S. policy in that country. Given Trump’s comments, investigators may want to learn whether the president similarly sought information about the Bidens in China.

In remarks to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations on Thursday morning, Trump said he discussed Biden’s China work with Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of the investment company Blackstone.

View the complete September 27 article by Michael Kranish on The Washington Post website here.

Trump’s false claims about Hunter Biden’s China dealings

Washington Post logo“When Biden’s son walks out of China with $1.5 billion in a fund, and the biggest funds in the world can’t get money out of China, and he’s there for one quick meeting and he flies in on Air Force Two, I think that’s a horrible thing. I think it’s a horrible thing.”

— President Trump, remarks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sept. 25, 2019

“Ask how his son made millions of dollars from Ukraine, made millions of dollars from China, even though he had no expertise whatsoever.”

— Trump, in remarks to reporters with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Sept. 24

“The son took money from China — a lot of money from China.”

— Trump, remarks to reporters at the United Nations, Sept. 23

We’ve been writing a lot about Trump’s false claims concerning Ukraine, Joe Biden and Biden’s son, Hunter. Now let’s turn our attention to Trump’s repeated suggestions that Hunter struck it rich with a sketchy deal in China.

View the complete September 26 article by Glenn Kessler on The Washington Post website here.

Trump delays increase in China tariffs until Oct. 15

The Hill logoPresident Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. will delay an upcoming increase in tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods from China at the request of Beijing, calling it a “gesture of good will.”

Trump tweeted that he would push back tariffs set to go into effect on Oct. 1 to Oct. 15 at the request of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He because the People’s Republic of China will be celebrating its 70th anniversary on Oct. 1.

“At the request of the Vice Premier of China, Liu He, and due to the fact that the People’s Republic of China will be celebrating their 70th Anniversary on October 1st, we have agreed, as a gesture of good will, to move the increased Tariffs on 250 Billion Dollars worth of goods (25% to 30%), from October 1st to October 15th,” Trump wrote in a pair of tweets.

View the complete September 11 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Trump’s misleading claims about China’s economy

Washington Post logoPresident Trump is a gumball machine of numbers when it comes to China. But his numbers are unchewable.

Whether the topic is Chinese job losses, foreign investment or trade, Trump has a habit of misleading audiences on the state of Asia’s largest economy. He also routinely exaggerates the effect of U.S. tariffs on China’s economy.

We rounded up some of the statistics Trump dishes out at campaign rallies, on Twitter and to reporters. The claims we’re fact-checking are all drawn from the president’s remarks at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., on Monday. But he has been repeating the same or similar figures for months. This is a roundup, so we won’t be awarding Pinocchios — but his claims are certainly misleading.

View the complete September 11 article by Salvador Rizzo on The Washington Post website here.

China to remove tariffs on some U.S. products, but not pork or soybeans

Washington Post logoBEIJING — China extended an olive twig, rather than a branch, to the United States in the trade war Wednesday, announcing it would exempt 16 American-made products from tariffs as a sign of goodwill ahead of talks scheduled for next month.

But the gesture, which Beijing said was designed to ease the dispute’s impact on American companies, does not offer relief from tariffs on the big-ticket agricultural products such as soybeans and corn that are causing the most hurt in the United States.

“China wants to claim the moral high ground before the October talks and to send a message of goodwill,” said Yao Xinchao, professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. “It’s all about molding public opinion” to portray the United States as the aggressor, Yao added.

View the complete September 11 article by Anna Fifield on The Washington Post website here.

Trump is losing much more than just a trade war — he’s losing the future

AlterNet logoWhile White House reporters investigate who added a Sharpie line to a hurricane map, a huge global story is developing that bodes badly for the economic welfare of Americans for decades to come.

China is using Trump’s gratuitous trade war to expand its economic, diplomatic and military influence. And it is succeeding, diminishing America’s influence, especially in the Western Pacific and India. The long-term cost to America in lost opportunities and ultimately diminished economic growth will be catastrophic.

These days China can reduce its reliance on America, which takes only one-fifth of its exports. It is also trying to build enough confidence in its stability to make the yuan a second world currency, perhaps eventually supplanting the dollar. A shift away from the dollar would have enormous negative consequences for Americans.

View the complete September 9 article by David Cay Johnston from DC Reports on the AlterNet website here.

China’s trade with US shrinks as tariff war worsens

BEIJING (AP) — China’s trade with the United States is falling as the two sides prepare for negotiations with no signs of progress toward ending a tariff war that threatens global economic growth.

Imports of American goods tumbled 22% in August from a year earlier to $10.3 billion, customs data showed Sunday. Exports to the United States, China’s biggest market, sank 16% to $44.4 billion.

Both sides have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s imports in the fight over complaints about Beijing’s trade surplus and technology development plans. The United States, Europe, Japan and other trading partners say those violate Chinese market-opening commitments.

View the complete September 8 article by Joe McDonald on the Associated Press website here.

Trump might like Brexit less when he sees what it does to the economy

Washington Post logoPresident Trump’s support for Britain’s exit from the European Union may be about to collide with his election-year hopes of presiding over a strong economy.

The president has long seen “Brexit” as reflecting the same sort of nationalist impulse that drove his White House upset in 2016. He has hailed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who vows to sever ties with Europe on Oct. 31 no matter what, as a kindred populist spirit.

But as British Parliament this week dealt Johnson a stunning four consecutive defeats, the prospect of further delay in leaving the E.U. or a chaotic no-deal divorce spiked.

Continuing instability in the world’s fifth-largest economy — coupled with anti-government protests in Hong Kong, a U.S.-China trade war, and financial problems in major developing countries such as Argentina and Turkey — threatens to become a drag on an already troubled global economy.

View the complete September 5 article by David Lynch on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Says China Will Suffer as Data Shows Trade War Hurting U.S.

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — President Trump said on Tuesday that Chinese manufacturing would “crumble” if the country did not agree to the United States’ trade terms, as newly released data showed his trade war was washing back to American shores and hurting the factories that the president has aimed to protect.

Days after new tariffs went into effect on both sides of the Pacific, a closely watched index of American manufacturing activity fell to 49.1 from 51.2, signaling a contraction in United States factory activity for the first time since 2016. The companies responding to the Institute for Supply Management survey, which the index is based on, cited shrinking export orders as a result of the trade dispute, as well as the challenge of moving supply chains out of China to avoid the tariffs.

The manufacturing sector’s struggles are likely to increase as the world’s two largest economies continue to escalate their trade fight. On Sunday, Mr. Trump placed a new 15 percent tariff on a range of consumer goods, including clothing, lawn mowers, sewing machines, food and jewelry, and Beijing retaliated by increasing tariffs on $75 billion worth of American products. China also said on Monday that it was filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization over Mr. Trump’s new tariffs.

View the complete September 3 article by Ana Swanson on The New York Times website here.

Five things to know about Trump’s Labor Day weekend tariffs

The Hill logoThe Trump administration is poised to impose 15 percent tariffs on roughly $112 billion of Chinese imports on Sunday, the latest escalation in a tit for tat trade war. The latest salvo comes amid growing fears of a global economic downturn and increasing pessimism about the prospects of striking a trade deal.

Here are five things you should know about the newest round of tariffs:

The new tariffs will hit consumer goods, including some big holiday retail items.

Until now, the Trump administration has tried to shield consumers from the effects of tariffs by focusing mostly on intermediate goods, which businesses buy to make their finished products. The upcoming round of tariffs cuts directly into consumer products, meaning people will start to see an increase in their bills.

View the complete August 30 article by Niv Elis and Sylvan Lane on The Hill website here.