What is the biggest danger in China? a)
Trade surplus with the United States; (b)its theft of U. S. technology; or (c)
China's aggression in the South China Sea?
Most experts will sayb)or (c).
President Trump thinks (a).
This is a big problem.
Trump has been chattering about China's $375 billion trade surplus with the United States.
"We can't keep this going! He said.
What we really cannot allow is the president's extreme ignorance of basic economics;
If Wharton has any self
Respect, this will undo his degree.
Trump acts as if China is stealing our stuff because we buy more than China.
Again, he must have thought that when my local supermarket sold me $100 worth of groceries, it didn't buy $100 worth of books in return and it was cheating on me.
We all received something of value.
I got the food, the supermarket got the money
Despite my large trade deficit.
In China, we can receive everything from LED display to plastic disposable gloves.
At the same time, China has bought a lot of things from the United States.
In 2017, $130 billion worth of goods made China the number one commodity in the world.
3 Destinations in the United StatesS. exports.
This is a mutually beneficial relationship that Trump may endanger his trade.
Although his economic policies actually increased the trade deficit, the war roared.
Trump's tax cuts and increased spending have stimulated demand, but because the economy is in full employment, the United States cannot produce all the goods consumers want to buy.
Therefore, we must increase our imports and our trade deficit will increase.
If Trump really wants to cut the trade deficit, he will cut the budget deficit.
There is no doubt that there are more serious problems in China's trade.
Beijing stole America. S.
Intellectual property, producing counterfeit goods, doing business with rogue regimes.
These are violations of international trade rules, and the United States can work with its allies through the World Trade Organization to impose sanctions on violators if necessary.
However, it is difficult to do so when the United States itself violates WTO rules and imposes arbitrary tariffs on our major trading partners.
To make matters worse, Trump is actually lifting sanctions against China's telecoms giant ZTE, despite the record that it violated US regulations. S. trade rules —
Including US exportsS.
Telecom equipment in Iran and North Korea.
While Trump is intensifying trade disputes with China, he is not concerned about China's illegal annexation in the South China Sea --
Outrageous Acts of territorial aggression like Russia's invasion of Ukraine (
Think about it, he's not focused on it either).
Beijing has set up a series of military bases.
These islands will enable it to dominate this strategically important waterway, which, although a large part of it belongs to other countries, is transit by a transport hub on the third sea in the world.
China deployed counter-measures in Nansha Islands
Cruise missiles and water-to-
It just landed an H-
6 k strategic bombers in the Paracel IslandsAdm.
Philip Davidson of the United StatesS. Indo-
The Pacific Command warned, "apart from the war with the United States, China now has the ability to control the South China Sea in all cases.
S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has issued an alert to remove the Chinese navy from the edge of the Pacific naval exercise and to step up "freedom of navigation" patrols.
Tuesday two B-
52 bombers flew near the Spratly Islands.
These actions are clearly taken at the initiative of the minister of defense, not the distracted president.
Last week, when Mattis condemned China's "intimidation and coercion" in the South China Sea, Trump responded with a mysterious tweet: "very surprised that China will do so?
"This is only the second time he mentioned the South China Sea in his entire Twitter schedule, and just this week he posted four tweets about his decision to cancel the White House invitation to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Trump's signing of an increased defense budget to enable the Navy to expand from 280 ships to 326 by 2023 is truly commendable.
This is a great progress in the United States. S.
It has the ability to challenge China's growing military power, but it is still far from the 355 ships the Navy needs to carry out all its missions.
Even with this accumulation, America will be hard.
Keep the South China Sea open.
The United States has many Asian allies, but Trump is busy alienating them --
Witness him from Cross
He refused to grant Japan a tariff exemption for steel and aluminum.
Trump's "US priority" policy is actually to allow China to become the first.
A force in East Asia.
All his ignorant rant about the trade deficit will only keep him and us away from the real danger.