Two major events have happened recently, both of which are related to China. On the one hand, China and Russia jointly announced that Putin would visit China on the 16th and 17th. Moreover, judging from the itinerary announced by the Kegong Palace, he will not only go to Beijing, but also visit Harbin, Russia's "eastward turn" and the deepening of cooperation between China and Russia are basically a foregone conclusion.
On the other hand, after Putin confirmed the timing of his visit to China, the United States immediately issued a document imposing tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Biden administration's version of tariff restrictions, if viewed from the perspective of Sino-US relations alone, is somewhat confusing, and there are two main reasons for this.
First, Biden's tariff policy itself is a slap in the face. During the Trump era, a series of acts such as launching Section 301 investigations against China and imposing tariffs on Chinese goods are the performance art of violating WTO rules and being nailed to the pillar of shame of contemporary international trade.
WTO
Since Biden took office, Yellen has publicly admitted more than once that this absurd tariff policy has not only failed to achieve the goal of containing China, but has instead burdened American businesses and consumers with heavy burdens. Now Biden has not revoked the established tariffs, but he is still "adding oil and vinegar" on this basis, which is completely a self-slap in the face, further exposing the incompetence of this US administration.
After the tariffs were imposed this time, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen actually said that she "hopes that China will respond in a rational way." Second, Biden's version of the tariffs seems to be very strict and gimmicky, but in fact it can cause very little damage to China. For example, one of the most notable of this version of the package is to triple the tariff rate on Chinese trams from the current 25% to 100%.
At first glance, Biden is attacking China's new energy industry, and he wants to compete with Trump in the sprint to the election to see who is tougher on China and can better protect the so-called emerging industries in the United States. But in reality, this version of the tax plan has little impact on China's tram industry.
Biden
According to official Chinese data, the number of trams exported from China to the United States in the past year was only about 10,000, accounting for less than 1 percent of total exports. Biden himself admits that raising tariffs on trams is a "precautionary measure" and, to put it bluntly, a target in the air. This point is not only said by the Chinese, but also by the US media.
After all, the export data of Chinese trams is there, and whether Biden is taking targeted measures as he advocates, or whether he is completely doing useless work to cheat votes, anyone who cares will find out. Therefore, in the past few days, there has been a contradictory attitude in the United States around the new version of the tariff plan against China.
On the one hand, it is Biden who advocates that the United States has won another victory in the trade war with China; On the other hand, the impact of the US media's criticism of the plan is very limited. Then the question arises, is Biden doing such a self-slapping thing in the face, is it really just for the world to see a joke? Judging from the current situation, I'm afraid it's really not.
What the Biden administration is doing is called "Xiang Zhuang Dancing the Sword, Intended for Pei Gong", and Europe, a core ally of the United States, is an important market for China's electric vehicles. And one thing that Europe is busy doing lately is pushing forward with the general elections of the European Parliament. The European Parliament has the least power of the three governing bodies of the European Union, but it has an important function of electing the president of the European Commission, who is actually responsible for administrative matters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who currently sits in this position and unconditionally listens to the calls of the United States and China, was elected by this body. This year, von der Leyen's re-election is not promising. First, there is the rise of the European right, who is not interested in von der Leyen, who keeps her mouth shut about putting the transatlantic partnership first.
Secondly, in the past few years of von der Leyen's ascension, the benchmark "political achievement" in charge of the Ukrainian conflict has dragged down the whole of Europe. Finally, the "financier" behind von der Leyen, the United States, is also facing an election. If the European Union puts von der Leyen in power, and the United States has an isolationist Trump, then the European people will be in a big disgrace.
Von der Leyen
Now, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are joining forces to encircle von der Leyen. Macron publicly stated that he does not support this "German" whose family is in the United States to continue to hold the power of the European Commission. Scholz directly locked the back road, blocking von der Leyen's "pension dream" of using the European Commission as a springboard to take over the NATO Secretary General.
In April, the European prosecutor's office also announced that it would launch a corruption investigation against von der Leyen because she was suspected of having interests with Pfizer over the vaccine. The United States chose to throw out sanctions against Chinese trams at this time, not to serve the American market in essence, but to provide ammunition to attack China for this group of pro-American politicians led by von der Leyen within the European Union.
When von der Leyen sat in the presidency of the European Commission, she orchestrated a number of investigations against China on the grounds of so-called "national security". Now, with the United States announcing a new round of tariff war against China, she can pull the banner and pull the tiger's skin, gain exposure in public opinion, and beautify her own series of unfair competition practices to build momentum for the election.
Germany, Switzerland
And if von der Leyen succeeds in taking office and wins the opportunity to be re-elected president of the European Commission, she can "feed" back to the United States and continue to create obstacles to China-EU cooperation. Europe also sees this calculation of the United States very clearly. Therefore, when Biden came up with a new version of the tariff plan, the biggest reaction was not American companies, but European countries.
The day after the White House announcement, the leaders of Germany and Sweden immediately spoke out to the media, emphasizing that Europe should be independent on the tariff issue and should not follow the example of the United States to set tariff barriers on China's electric vehicles. This kind of unfair competition will not only hurt the United States and Europe's own industries, but also have a negative impact on global trade, which is a bad idea.
China has not sat idly by. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce have given a clear response that they will take "resolute measures" to defend their rights and interests. China is not talking about empty words, and specific countermeasures are likely to be announced in the next few days. Chinese companies will not sit idly by.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's
Recently, Chinese lidar manufacturers officially took the U.S. Department of Defense to court on the grounds that the U.S. government's trade protectionist methods are "unconstitutional."
In today's environment in the United States, it is very difficult for Chinese companies to win against the Pentagon. But there are so many such examples that the fig leaf of the "free market" in the United States cannot be covered. Biden's plan to improve the domestic business environment, attract investment, and reshape the supply chain in the United States will naturally go bankrupt.
In addition, in response to the U.S. efforts to "sow discord" between China and Europe, China may also announce more projects to deepen economic cooperation with the EU, making the "counter-opposition" devised by the U.S. completely useless.
#MCN首发激励计划#