Economic Daily Editorial/U.S.-China economic and trade war flares up again, Taiwan should strengthen itself | Editorial | Comments

The U.S. International Trade Representative’s Office recently announced a Section 310 investigation into China’s shipping, logistics, and shipbuilding industries. The United States listed a total of 12 unfair trade measures that it believed harmed U.S. interests. China also immediately fought back, claiming that it would definitely take countermeasures. restraint action. Leaders of both sides held a video conference in early April, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen had just concluded her visit to the mainland. Although the two sides have not resolved their differences, they at least do not expect the economic and trade conflict to expand immediately. The launch of the Section 301 investigation by the United States was somewhat unexpected, but it also showed that there are major conflicts between the United States and China, and the confrontation continues to heat up.

In 2017, President Trump launched a Section 301 investigation into mainland China, and began to impose punitive tariffs on mainland China in 2018. China did not show weakness and responded with retaliatory tariffs, launching a series of economic and trade confrontations. Although the United States is sanctioning mainland China’s unfair trade measures, its main purpose is to curb the mainland’s technological expansion to ensure the United States’ leading edge, mainly in advanced and emerging fields such as manufacturing.

During President Trump’s term, he imposed economic and trade sanctions on mainland China, and Biden continued to intensify them after taking office. For example, the number of Chinese companies and related institutions that the Biden administration has included in the export control “entity list” so far has exceeded that of the Trump period. In addition, the Biden administration has not only deepened its control over China in high-end technology, but also required allies to follow suit. Companies from other countries have echoed this, making it even more airtight than during the Trump era.

In addition to strengthening the containment of China in advanced industries, the Biden administration has recently expanded its scope to other areas. For example, the United States recently accused China of improperly subsidizing new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells, the so-called “three new” green products. High-performance products are dumped into the international market at low prices, forming unfair competition, and we are ready to launch trade countermeasures. This 301 investigation also points to the service industry, showing that in addition to deepening, the scope of U.S. sanctions against mainland China has also begun to expand.

The United States will hold a presidential election in November. The election is currently in a stalemate, and the domestic economy will be an important factor affecting the election. Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden for insufficient sanctions against mainland China, which affects U.S. interests. Trump advocates using tariffs as the main tool and proposes to increase punitive tariffs on all imported products from mainland China. In order to curb the import of electric vehicles from mainland China, Trump even advocates imposing a 100% tariff on electric vehicles produced by Chinese companies in Mexico. Only in this way can we ensure that American jobs are not lost and the economy grows steadily.

In addition to imposing tariffs on China, Trump has also mentioned imposing taxes on Taiwanese semiconductors and imposing tariffs on all U.S. imports. This may trigger retaliation from various countries and form a global trade war. However, Trump’s view of America first and his linkage of sanctions on mainland China and boosting the domestic economy of the United States have gained a lot of support, forcing Biden to increase the intensity of sanctions on mainland China.

Biden has been relatively moderate on tariff policies in the past, but he has also begun to advocate directly raising tariffs in order to win the election; for example, in his recent speech to domestic labor unions, he stated that he would triple the tariffs on steel products imported from the mainland.

The new wave of industries that the United States is preparing to impose sanctions on mainland China are not Taiwan’s main industries and have little relevance to Taiwan. However, catalyzed by the factors of the election campaign, the two presidential candidates ignored international economic and trade norms, took a tough stance on the mainland, and continued to go against the grain. Expanding trade protection measures has become the main political opinion. As countries follow suit, the rise of global trade protectionism is fueled, and the global economic and trade order may become uncontrollable. At present, many economic and trade institutions regard the US presidential election as the biggest risk in the world this year.

On the other hand, although the United States continues to accuse mainland China of inappropriately subsidizing industries, the United States has not stopped subsidizing domestic industries. It is often considered by other countries to be unfair trade measures, and economic and trade disputes have been reported.

After Taiwan’s new government took office, the economic and trade confrontation between the United States and China increased and may even be disrupted. Global trade has tended to be protective and the export environment has become more severe. This is not good for Taiwan, which hopes to escape last year’s export recession. How to improve its export expansion policy , is extremely important. In addition, Taiwan is not involved in the global subsidy competition and the capital of the global trade war, but it should improve its domestic import defense system to effectively curb foreign unfair trade practices to ensure the interests of Taiwan’s industries.