Foreign Minister Wang Yi named the United States for bullying and bullying has lost its mind, and as soon as his words fell, the German Chancellor expressed his refusal to dance with the United States against China, what did Foreign Minister Wang Yi say? What are the new trends in the recent US crackdown on China? What does Scholz's statement mean?
On the 15th, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with reporters after the fifth China-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dhar in Beijing, and made a clear response to the recent unilateral sanctions and high tariffs imposed by the US government on China. Wang Yi bluntly said that the US side's almost frenzied suppression of China's normal economic, trade, and scientific and technological activities is a typical hegemonic bullying in the world today, which shows that some people in the United States have lost their minds in order to maintain their unipolar hegemony. At the same time, Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that the US unscrupulous suppression of China does not prove the strength of the US, but rather reveals that the US has lost its self-confidence and is out of order. It will not solve the problems of the United States itself, but will cause further damage to the normal operation of the international production and supply chain; This will not stop China's development and revitalization, but will inspire the 1.4 billion Chinese people to work harder.
It is understood that on the 14th, the Biden administration announced that it would continue to retain the tariff policy implemented by its predecessor Trump administration and impose tariffs on other Chinese goods. According to the statement, the tariffs will affect $18 billion worth of imports from China, including electric vehicles, steel and aluminum, semiconductors, solar cells and more. Among them, the tariff rates are: 25% for steel and aluminum, 50% for semiconductors, and 50% for solar panels, while China's electric vehicles, which are regarded as "thorns in the side and thorns in the flesh" by the Biden administration, have been raised from 25% to 100%. In recent years, with the "sudden rise" of China's electric vehicles in the world, this has caused American politicians to "worry" about the development of their country's clean energy industry, and it has become one of the important means of the US government to suppress and curb China's new energy industry through tariffs. For some time, the Biden administration has repeatedly stressed that it has no intention of seeking decoupling from China, obstructing China's economic development, or encircling China, but the fact is that the US has repeatedly violated relevant commitments to China and has no integrity at all.
Not only that, it is not enough for the United States to suppress China on its own, it is also trying to woo allies to join its camp, but what the Biden administration did not expect is that not all allies are willing to side with the United States on this issue. As soon as Foreign Minister Wang Yi's words criticizing the United States by name fell, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz first stood up and expressed his refusal to dance with the United States against China. On the 15th, Scholz warned at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Berlin not to take measures to cut off the German economy from potential overseas markets. He believes that protectionism will only make everything more expensive in the end, and that what Germany needs is fair and free global trade, which is particularly important for the German economy, especially in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is facing unprecedented challenges, so Germany must ensure that open markets are not harmed. The day before, Scholz also issued a warning to the European Union, saying that the European Union should not "follow the United States" in targeting Chinese electric vehicles, and must consider the benefits of trading with China.
In addition to Scholz, a number of trade unions in Germany have also spoken out against the US government's hegemonic behavior, and the German Foreign Trade Association (BGA) considers the US tariff hike and its effect "very questionable" and warns Europe not to follow suit. Dirk, the chairman of the association, pointed out that the United States announced a four-fold increase in import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, and the losers were only consumers and businesses. In addition, Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson also clearly opposed the EU's imposition of punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. This attitude of European countries is enough to show one point, that is, the hegemonic and bullying behavior of the United States in disregard of the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is causing the United States to fall into a situation of being alone step by step, and international trade cooperation can accept legitimate competition, but it will never accept unilateral hegemony. As one of the founders of the WTO, what the United States should do is to set a good example, not take the lead in violating the law.