A capricious America is America’s biggest problem.

Three rounds of negotiations, zero overnight.

Last night (June 15th), Beijing time, the Trump administration of the United States announced that it would impose high tariffs on about $50 billion of products "containing industrially significant technologies" imported from China.

A large-scale trade war against China has started again.

History will remember this day, because it is not only a trade war involving the two largest economies in the world, but also the trade war involving the highest amount in history.

The trend of neo-isolationism is on the rise

The current world economic system was established under the leadership of the United States after World War II, and its most important cornerstone is the World Trade Organization (WTO). Especially after China’s entry into WTO, this organization has become increasingly powerful and made great contributions to the development of the world economy.

However, during the 2016 US election, we saw the rise of anti-globalization neo-isolationism represented by Trump. During the period from the election to the ruling for one and a half years, Trump repeatedly played up the identity of the "victim" of the United States, and reduced its huge public opinion deficit by strengthening the "victim" mentality of the American people.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that in the existing international system, the United States is constantly being raped, robbed, robbed and exploited by other countries, so the United States needs to redefine its relations with all countries in the world — — Including economic and trade relations and security relations.

China issued countermeasures.

There is no doubt that the trade war launched by the United States is not only aimed at China, but also includes traditional allies such as the European Union and Japan, and two major neighboring countries such as Canada and Mexico. However, in terms of the amount of products involved, its trade war with China is unparalleled in scale.

The European Union, Canada and other economies have taken countermeasures against the irrational behavior of the United States. Half an hour after the United States announced the imposition of tariffs on China, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued a solemn statement, indicating that we would immediately counter it with "taxation measures of the same scale and strength".

Early this morning (16th), the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council, China issued an announcement and decided to impose a 25% tariff on 659 imported goods originating in the United States. The official in charge of the Committee Office also said that China has noticed that the United States issued a statement saying that if China takes retaliatory measures, the United States will continue to impose additional tariffs. In this regard, China will reserve the right to take corresponding measures.

Screenshot of China Ministry of Finance website

Openly challenge global interests

Everyone understands that the essence of trade is exchange of needed goods, which is a reciprocal behavior among economies. In Sino-US trade, American enterprises and people have gained great benefits. At present, the Trump administration imposes tariffs on China products with the totally unwarranted conclusion of the "301 investigation", thus bringing the mutually beneficial bilateral economic relations into a state of war. This is undoubtedly a blatant challenge to world trade rules and global interests.

The actions of the Trump administration do not represent the interests of the American people or any important industrial group..After its statement was released, important institutions including the American Chamber of Commerce and the American Manufacturers Association immediately condemned the retrogression of the Trump administration.

Since February 2018, the US stock market, bond market and foreign exchange market have all experienced violent fluctuations, indicating that the US economic growth situation still faces many uncertainties. Over the past month or so, the fundamentals of the American economy have generally stabilized. However, with the development of this trade war, the American economy is bound to undergo tremendous pressure again, and its stabilization trend is bound to be interrupted.

In the trade negotiations with the United States, the China government has expressed its utmost goodwill and sincerity, but the United States has repeatedly been capricious, acting like the government that lacks effective management in the world. USA seems to be becoming the abbreviation of "the unpredictable states of America". Such a capricious American government is not only a difficult problem for China, but also for that United state. (Lu Xiang)