President Donald Trump has said this Friday that he seems “appropriate” to lower the current 145% tariff that his government imposes on Chinese imports and has asked Beijing to open its market, one day before the commercial dialogue planned between representatives of the United States and China in Switzerland.
“An 80% tariff to China seems appropriate! It is in the hands of Scott B.,” Trump said in his social truth network, referring to the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent. Minutes before, the American president had published another post in which he pointed out in capital letters: “China should open their market to the US.”
“It would be very good for them! The closed markets no longer work!” He wrote.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114477628854583525
It will be Besent who, together with the American trade representative, Jamieson Greer, will meet in Geneva with He Lifeng, main responsible for Beijing’s commercial negotiations. The Trump administration has repeated that 145% tariff [imponiendo aranceles del 125%] instead of looking for a solution. ”
The 80%figure, despite being a significant cut with respect to 145%, remains higher than the initial base that Trump announced on April 2, 34%of reciprocal tariffs to Beijing. Figure that quickly climb as well as the Asian giant returned the blows with levies similar to American products.
Now, it is also true that the tax reduction will have a significant impact on the current situation, in which the port trade has cooled. Norfolk Southern, a large railway transport group in the United States, warned two weeks ago that tariffs could slow down cars and containers, due to the “uncertainty in export trade.”
When on Thursday at the Oval Office – when he announced a commercial agreement with the United Kingdom – one of the journalists asked Trump about this cooling of port traffic, the Republican tried to minimize the problem and presented it as a positive situation. “That means we will lose less money … when you say it has slowed down, that’s good, not bad,” he said.
The intention to reduce tariffs at the doors of the meeting with China is another gesture of the will to de -escala into the US administration. In recent weeks, the White House has begun to reduce the tone with China after Besent publicly recognized that a commercial war of these dimensions with Beijing was not “sustainable”.
The attempt to reduce tension with China comes after Trump met with senior executives from the country’s large surfaces, such as Target, Walmart and Home Depot. Companies representatives warned the president that Chinese import taxes would imply an increase in price in their products.
Shortly after the announcement of the meeting between the delegations of both countries, the Central Bank of China has reduced interest rates this Wednesday to stimulate and inject more money into the economy. This is the most important economic policy measure that the Chinese authorities have taken to try to limit the impact of the consequences of the commercial war initiated by Trump.
The president has constantly attacked China for his role in fentanyl traffic in the United States and other substances used to make drugs. The first tariffs to China that signed after arriving at the White House, those of 25%, were already linked precisely to the fentanyl crisis.
China tariffs threaten to have a great impact on American consumers and the latest surveys show how Trump’s popularity has fallen following their commercial war. According to a survey published by the ABC News chain, almost two thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump’s tariff policies.
Source: www.eldiario.es
