On October 11th, local time, Trump angrily posted a thousand-word article on social platforms, asking to impose a 100% tariff on China. But in less than half a day, U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer has changed his mind in hopes of peaceful trade with China.
Greer was interviewed by Fox TV that day. When the host asked him about Trump's intention to impose a 100% tariff on China, Greer said: "Let's observe it for a while. There is no need for the United States to do this yet."
Then he might think he was too “weak” to say so he hurried to add: “But if necessary, we are ready, and we think the American people are ready too.”
Greene explained, The United States wants to have peaceful relations with China in trade.， Establishing a “balanced and lasting trade relationship”The problem is that China needs to change its hostile attitude toward the United States and cancel its “unfair trade behavior” toward the United States.
Trump angrily issued a long article criticizing China and waved a tariff stick to impose a 100% tariff on China. Less than half a day later, Greer said that China and the United States want peace and hope to achieve "balanced and lasting trade." The speed at which Americans change their faces and change their breath is really shocking. Whether Trump and his cabinet want to fight or make peace is also unclear.
Although the U.S. attitude is different, people who are clear at once know what’s going on. Just after Trump announced a 100% tariff increase to China, the U.S. finger began to fall in just 3 minutes. The S & P 500 Index evaporated $700 billion in an instantThe US economic tariffs showed panic and first surrendered to the market.
Under this situation, Greer had to make a public statement, verbally calling for peaceful trade between China and the United States, and establishing a balanced and lasting trade mechanism between China and the United States. Greer's "compromise" is to stabilize people's panic, while also intentionally or unintentionally releasing the "sincerity" of peace to China.
However, this set of tricks played by Trump and American politicians can't fool the Chinese who have experienced business wars for a long time. Trump's approach to tariff war is the "chaotic attack" mode, that is, multi-point attack from different aspects to disrupt trade and create bargaining chips for the implementation of tariff negotiations. This practice looks loud and scary, and in fact it is still a paper tiger that can't eat people.
In recent years, Trump has made a lot of small moves in China-U.S. trade, first to impose sanctions on Chinese enterprises, then charge huge port charges to Chinese ships, and then collect various messy taxes on furniture, heavy trucks, pharmaceuticals, lifting machines, etc. Trump strikes around, deliberately stirring the water, is to create the U.S. "all army strike", to "defeat the death war" with China.
Trump is building momentum for the negotiations. Exaggerating propaganda and creating tension are Trump's strengths. He wants to force China to make concessions by creating this "chaotic attack", create momentum for the possible meeting between Chinese and American leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting held in late October, and create momentum for the Sino-US trade negotiations held in early November. Create more negotiation codes for the United States.
The more Trump is angry, the more China-U.S. trade contradictions, the greater the pressure on China. Trump does not dare to hit China, whether it is a real war or a trade war. But he is not willing to compromise, so he does not painfully act in many fields, to create a move to give China "pressure."
But China will not get used to Trump, this "small move" China has long seen in the eye. China immediately played three cards, each played on Trump's "seven inches". China has implemented the strictest rare earth control, all rare earth-related exports are strictly controlled, the United States only restored two or three months of rare earth supply to be discontinued, American enterprises and military industry will face a situation where the rare earth can not enter, Trump's small actions harm these enterprises.
China has also imposed port service charges on US ships in tit-for-tat mannerAccording to the latest tariff standards, a single U.S. giant vessel to trade in China will have to pay a service fee of about $20 million. This money will eventually only be borne by U.S. companies, and this reciprocal sanction has also given the U.S. a taste of being charged service fees.
China has also launched an antitrust investigation into U.S. companies., review the additional patent fee charged by Qualcomm chips of up to 5%. According to the provisions of the anti-monopoly law, Qualcomm may face huge fines, and the expansion of American chips in the Chinese market may face the end of being "cut in half". This move is beneficial to the R&D and manufacturing of Chinese mobile phone chips, and Chinese chips are expected to rise.
China's counterattack is fast and precise, and it is heavy and effective., from rare earths to ships to chips, every industry is a deadly industry, and every one has hit the "seven inches" level. Trump didn't expect that China would be so attentive to his little moves, and it would take such a heavy blow, which caught Trump a little unprepared.
Trump really stole chickens this time, but he really didn't have a good idea except to let Trade Representative Greer out to say a few soft words. The 100% tariff trick is useless. If this trick is useful, it won't be so passive today.
In fact, it is simple for Trump to want peaceful trade. He just needs to trade with China frankly and don't make tricks underneath. Once China fought back, it hit hard. Trump finally learned a lesson this time. This time, will China relax its sanctions and respond to the United States 'call for peace? That depends on how sincerity Trump can show.