On the 17th local time, U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a speech at the headquarters of the United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during which he once again smeared China with the so-called "overcapacity theory" and threw out the statement that tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products would be increased by 3 times. Earlier in the day, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the launch of a Section 301 investigation into China's "unfair practices, policies and practices" in the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries, and will hold a public hearing on the investigation at the end of May.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responded on the 19th that the relevant statements of the US side are completely inconsistent with the facts, damage Sino-US economic and trade relations, and run counter to the consensus reached at the San Francisco meeting between the two heads of state. China is gravely concerned about this and strongly deplores it. Lin Jian said that the Chinese side will pay close attention to the progress of the investigation, and asked the US side to be cautious in its words and deeds, stop manipulating China issues in the election year, stop "pan-securitization" of economic and trade issues, cancel the additional tariffs on China, and stop imposing new tariffs. China will take all necessary measures to resolutely defend its rights and interests.
According to the White House, steel imports from China account for only 0.6% of total U.S. steel demand, far less than Canada, Mexico and other countries. Bloomberg published an article earlier this month pointing out that China is not seeking to produce more steel than it needs in the long term and is not to blame for the weak US steel prices.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stressed that China's steel industry is mainly based on meeting the domestic market demand, without any subsidy policies to stimulate exports, and the proportion of exports has remained at about 5% for a long time, far lower than Japan, South Korea and other steel producers, and the impact on the international market is very limited. On the contrary, the United States has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in discriminatory subsidies to its own industries, and has also abused export control measures under the pretext of "national security" to hinder the normal international trade of chips and other products. The US side accused China of adopting so-called "non-market behavior", which is a typical example of "thieves shouting to catch thieves".
It is worth noting that Biden's manipulation of China's economic and trade issues is entirely out of "election considerations". As an important swing state, Pennsylvania could decide the outcome of this year's U.S. presidential election. A number of U.S. media mentioned in their reports that trade unions are an important force in the "Rust Belt" of American industry, and Biden and Trump must fight for local unions as an important vote base in Pennsylvania. Previously, Biden had always claimed to be "the most union-pro-union president in American history." Biden's constant wielding of tariffs for votes is bound to affect Sino-US relations. Biden has sought to stabilize tensions with China in recent months, but his tariff hikes to attract votes could ruin that effort, according to CNN analysis.
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post quoted a number of analysts as pointing out that although the US move is based on "electoral considerations", the "small moves" against China may continue until the end of the general election at the end of this year, so China will not consider its election factors when formulating countermeasures. The editorial of the Global Times also reminded the US side that there is a fundamental problem behind China's manufacturing industry becoming the "hardest hit area" for Washington to dump the blame, that is, the United States has still failed to face up to the development of China's manufacturing industry and even China's economy. If Washington cannot have a clearer understanding of "Made in China", then the future of Sino-US economic and trade relations will inevitably encounter stumbles and even storms.
In this regard, Ke Jing, an associate researcher at the Institute of International Studies of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News that during this period, Sino-US relations have been in a relatively fragile state, and the level of mutual trust between the two sides is relatively low. Since the communication mechanism between the two sides has been restored recently, and the relations between the two sides have eased accordingly, if the United States still launches round after round of unreasonable attacks on China from time to time, it will certainly damage Sino-US relations.
In his speech, Biden also mentioned that the United States will put pressure on neighboring Mexico to prohibit China's indirect sales of metal products from Mexico to the United States, and that the Biden administration is launching an investigation into China's alleged "unfair trade practices" in the maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries.
In fact, relying on unfair means will not save the decline of the US manufacturing industry. Recently, the US Navy's problems of "difficulty in repairing ships" and "difficulty in building ships" have become the Pentagon's current "heart disease." According to an analysis on the website of the U.S. Naval Institute, due to the continued decline of the U.S. shipbuilding industry, a large number of naval ships cannot be repaired on time, and the ships waiting for maintenance not only occupy limited port waters, but also lead to a more serious shortage of workers to build new ships.
In order to get out of this predicament as soon as possible, the U.S. government has been forced to turn to allies for help. U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos del Toro mentioned on the 8th that although the United States has built the most powerful warships in the world, the U.S. shipyards that build these ships have lagged behind global technical standards for decades. He acknowledges that U.S. shipbuilding capacity has shrunk significantly over the past 40 years. During a recent visit to South Korea's largest shipyard, the U.S. Navy delegation he led was "blown away by the level of digitization and real-time monitoring of shipbuilding progress." Even more envious of Del Toro is that "U.S. allies such as South Korea and Japan can build high-quality ships, including Aegis destroyers, at a low cost, and on time and on budget."
In this regard, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that a number of research reports by the US side show that the US shipbuilding industry has lost its competitive advantage many years ago due to overprotection. The development of China's related industries is the result of technological innovation and active participation in market competition, thanks to its complete industrial manufacturing system and huge domestic market. The US blames China for its own problems, which lacks factual basis and goes against economic common sense.
The traditional manufacturing industry in the United States lacks competitiveness, and talking about China obviously does not help solve the problem, not only that, but even the Biden administration violates the laws of industry and focuses on subsidizing the development of new energy industries, and the competitiveness is difficult to improve. Bloomberg gave a conclusion on the 17th: Although the Biden administration supports the "Inflation Reduction Act" passed in 2022 to promote the development of advanced energy manufacturing in the United States, 20 months later, China still expands its dominance of clean technology in the United States. Bloomberg commented that the "supportive" policies of the United States can do "nothing more" in overcoming high borrowing costs, slow permit approvals, and long waits for new power plants to be connected to the grid.
Ke Jing, an associate researcher at the Institute of International Studies of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with a reporter from Shenzhen Satellite TV that China's manufacturing industry is strong because China has a very complete industrial system, a very complete infrastructure, and a very strong logistics. In addition, China has the advantage of a large number of high-quality workers and relatively low costs. Ke Jing further said, "The most basic reason why China's manufacturing industry is very strong is that China has a very large market. ”
At the same time, China is vigorously pursuing a long-term green industry strategy that is developing faster than the rest of the world. According to the Global Wind Energy Council, China has by far the world's largest turbine wind turbine capacity. In addition to output, Chinese turbine manufacturers are also leading the way in product design and innovation. Wood Mackenzie, a consultancy, said that in the past four years, 426 new turbine fans have been released in China, and only 29 new turbines have been released outside China.
Facts have proven that the United States may slow down the speed at which its opponents become stronger through a series of means, such as striking at its opponents, restricting competition, and erecting trade barriers, but it may not necessarily make itself stronger. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian reminded the US side on the 19th that "prescribing medicine to others will not cure your own disease." Lin Jian said that taking trade protection measures under the pretext of "overcapacity" will not solve their own problems, but will damage the stability of the global production and supply chain, damage the growth and development of emerging industries, and damage the joint efforts of the international community to deal with climate change and green transformation and development.
Author丨Hou Junyi, senior editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News