China's sudden economic and trade combination kick, is a resolute counterattack to the United States to pull the blockade of 37 countries? or the inevitable response to the US pressure?
On September 12, the U.S. Department of Commerce updated the "entity list" with a joke, and by the way added 13 Chinese companies.
This is definitely not a temporary deal, and those who know how to do it know that this is the old way – first to give you a stop and then to force you to make concessions at the negotiating table.
Even more uncomfortable is the fact that Washington not only does it on its own, but also pulls 37 countries together to encircle China, and even forces European allies to raise tariffs on Chinese and Indian goods.
Faced with the wave of U.S. operations, China did not give them half the space this time.On midnight on September 13, the lights of the Commerce Ministry building were still lit, followed by two heavy-pound announcements.
American old pattern: first card technology again bonding allies
Trump's way of trade bullying has always been the same: swing a big stick first and then talking about conditions, taking advantage of himself but letting his allies pay the bill. Behind the light list on September 12th, there is a routine they have played for several years.
Among the 23 Chinese companies targeted this time, 13 are all engaged in semiconductors and integrated circuits. Fudan Microelectronics and its affiliated companies have been specially marked as "Footnote 4"-everyone who knows it knows that this label means that the whole process is blocked. Whether it is a 7nm or 180nm process, as long as the foundry uses American equipment, don't think of OEM for these companies.
What is even more disgusting is the operation of the United States dragging its allies to step on the pit together. In just 96 hours, Trump made three moves in a row: first, he called on 32 NATO countries to increase tariffs of 50% to 100% on Chinese goods, and said that this could "help end the war in Ukraine"; Then let the G7 countries follow suit to increase taxes and hold a special video conference to put pressure on them; Finally, it's even more excessive. Let the 27 EU countries impose "secondary tariffs" on China and India first, and then the United States will consider whether to follow suit.
There are too many gaps in this — the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has nothing to do with China, but is taken by the United States as the head of the oppression of China.
More ridiculously, Trump himself could not do it first, but forced the allies to jump into the pit of fire first. but the allies are not stupid. European enterprises do business with China hundreds of billions a year, the German automobile giant, the French Airbus, the Chinese market earned full of money. Canada has just fixed the relationship with China, is busy expanding agricultural exports; British enterprises are still waiting for China to relax access to the service industry.
Trump said in his mouth "do it together", in fact, he wanted to get the allies to take their economic interests to the United States.
Some EU officials privately said: "Adding 100% tariffs on Chinese goods is equivalent to directly sentencing European manufacturing to death." Originally, there were cracks within this alliance, and it was doomed from the beginning that this containment plan would not last long.
China’s counter-trick: Breaking the Rules
In the face of the United States, China's counter-reaction was not blind, the two nights of the Ministry of Commerce's lighting, not only overtime, but also thinking about how to precisely remove the tricks.
The first knife targeted the U.S. analogue chip, and the data showed that in the two years from 2022 to 2024, the U.S. market share of these chips in China increased from 35.4% to 44.98%, imports increased by 37%, but prices cut 52%, and the average dumping rate was 340.1%.
These chips are usually used in the automotive electronics and industrial control of these key places, American enterprises rely on low prices to crush the market, in fact, they want to squeeze out the survival space of Chinese enterprises.
The second knife is more strategic – specifically looking at all the unfair measures the United States is engaging in the field of integrated circuits.This is not a simple "you hit me and I hit you", but put the United States' years of "black stuff" all out: from 2018 to 301 investigations and tariffs, to limiting "Americans" to participate in Chinese semiconductor projects, and until May this year not to let other countries use Huawei chips, even China with U.S. chips to train AI models.
China's Ministry of Commerce lists these things one by one, and takes the Foreign Trade Law and WTO rules as a ruler, which is tantamount to setting a case for the "bullying behavior" of the United States internationally.
This game hides China's gateway: you follow your way, I do it in my way.The United States wants to shake the neck of technology, China uses the law to break its rationality; the United States wants to pull allies into a tariff war, China looks at its advantage industry fight.
Even more wonderful is the time to choose – the United States just cried out with its allies, not waiting for them to get together, China has taken the hand, both let the allies see the determination of China’s counter-repression, but also let them leave the ladder: it is not you who do not cooperate, it is China that has started too quickly, this alliance has not yet set up and has dispersed.
The materials submitted by the Jiangsu Semiconductor Industry Association, became the key evidence of this counteraction.This shows that China's economic and trade counterattack is not the decision of the head, but the demand of enterprises, the industry has a voice, the government
When U.S. enterprises are also relying on the government to engage in unfair competition, China has set up a set of stereo defense routes "business demand + law as weapons + government to support". this rule-based counter-measures, the United States wants to shout blame internationally is difficult - after all, who is undermining the rules of international trade, take data and facts in contrast, clearly clear.
China's confidence: the market is big enough, and the system is responsible for it
Faced with the blockade of 38 countries, China dared to take such a decisive step, not blindly hard, it is really a home base. At the end of August, our foreign exchange reserves were $ 33.222.2 billion, 0.91% higher than last month, which is similar to a "stabilizer" for the Chinese economy.
More importantly, these foreign currencies are not the numbers on the account, behind it is a real trade network - in 2024 China and the "Belt and Road" countries' total import and exports, the ratio of the first time exceeded 50%, the United States wants to pull allies into the "House Wall", China has long relied on cooperation and win-win, weaving another larger network.
The domestic market is more confident. In 2024, GDP will increase by 5%, which looks stable, but a closer look at the structure is full of bright spots: the sales of new energy vehicles have increased by 35.5%, and the market share has reached 40.9%; The added value of high-tech manufacturing industry rose by 8.9%, 3.1 percentage points faster than that of ordinary industry. These data show that China's economy is turning to high quality, no longer relying on low-end exports, but on technological upgrading and domestic demand.
When the United States was still thinking about how to restrict Chinese goods, Chinese enterprises were already at the forefront of the new energy, digital economy and these new races - in 2024 China exported 29.8 billion units of integrated circuits, becoming the highest export of single commodities, which is the most real refutation of "China's technology neck".
The U.S. "entity list" is entirely based on administrative orders, whoever wants to add, no point; China's anti-dumping inspection, all according to the anti-dumping regulations, from the application to the government review, and to the announcement of the filing, every step has rules.
This difference can be seen by everyone in the world: U.S. sanctions always use "national security" as an excuse, while China's counter-measures take real dumping data and legal provisions.
When Trump cried out on social media "tax increase 100%", the announcement of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce was all accurate to small numbers after two digits of data, and there was a strict legal basis, not a bit of ambiguity.
The longer-term confidence comes from our layout of new productivity. In 2024, the added value of the core industries of the digital economy will account for 10% of GDP, and the total scale of computing power will steadily rank second in the world. These invisible "new infrastructure" are becoming the "ballast stone" for China to withstand external pressure.
The United States wants to restrain China's scientific and technological development by limiting chips, but China's breakthroughs in the data industry and artificial intelligence applications in these fields are opening up new development space.
Just like when we dealt with the tariff war, we relied on new energy vehicles to achieve overtaking in corners. Now Chinese companies are also using technological innovation to break the blockade. After Fudan Microelectronics was sanctioned, it immediately issued an open letter saying "resolutely engage in independent research and development". This is the resilience of our company, which can be seen clearly.
In fact, this contest, which started with the late-night announcement, is, in the final analysis, a competition between two ideas of doing things. The United States wants to rely on hegemony to maintain its technological monopoly and trade advantage, but China wants to break this unfair situation by opening up, obeying rules and innovating.
When the foreign exchange reserves of $32.22 billion encounter the super-large domestic market, when the "Belt and Road" friendship circle encounters the breakthrough of new quality productivity, when the legal weapons encounter the innovative vitality of enterprises, China faces the bottom of the siege of 38 countries, not to say more and clear.
Trump may still be addicted to the old idea of "tariff stick", but the world has long changed-relying on allies to engage in a closed small circle can't fight the general trend of openness and win-win after all. The lights on in the middle of the night of the Ministry of Commerce not only illuminated the two announcements, but also illuminated a breakthrough road by one's own strength and obeying the rules.
Source of information:
The Ministry of Commerce issued two consecutive announcements, showing key signals of China's anti-trade bullying
Observer.com-Included in the entity list by the United States, Fudan Microelectronics: 3.1 billion in inventory