New Delhi: US president Trump imposed a 60 billion USD of tariff on Chinese imports following the massive deficit that hit America leaving nearly two million people jobless in the country.
The White House today agreed to the imposed tariffs by President Trump as a punishment to China for its “unfair” trade in America which had an impact on 2 million people in the US.
The decision was taken up after a seven-month long investigation into the American intellectual property theft that left two million people jobless in the country.
Meanwhile, China has also announced retaliatory measures against the United States.
A senior administration official said: “By some calculations, every billion dollar of trade deficit that arises from market-distorted policies, costs us about 6,000 jobs. A very conservative calculation, by some estimates, is that trade deficit results in about two million more jobs in China and two million less here. This is a serious problem that the US side is keenly aware of”.
Adding that China’s “unfair” trade practices has cost America trade deficit of 370 billion USD, the official said, “The point here is that China will have a choice as to how to respond, and they have benefited far more from this relationship than we have. We will certainly take that into account.”
China’s economy reportedly grew from 1 Trillion USD to 12 Trillion USD since it joined World Trade Organization in 2001. The official also said the unfair trade practice of China concerns other countries as well since its widespread throughout the world.
“We have heard from many of our trading partners that they share many of these concerns,” the official said.
Another administration official also said that China benefits far more in the US-China trade
relationship than the US does.
“During the same period of time, the American economy sputtered. It went from an annual growth rate of about 3.5 percent between 1947 and 2000, down to around two percent, which everybody wanted to say was the new normal for America. But the contrast between China’s growth and its unfair trade practices, and what had happened to the US in terms of growth and wage growth, is quite startling,” the official said.
US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said Trump was always clear about the trade between America and China, but it was China’s unfair trade practices that made America take this step.
“It’s natural for us to have to address things that we don’t agree on. One of them is certainly trade. The President has fought very hard for advancing opportunities, economic opportunities for American businesses, but also the American people,” she said, News Nation reported.
“The administration should instead pursue a comprehensive approach centred around several strategic priorities. This includes working closely with our international partners to identify unfair trade barriers and practices that China must remove, setting deadlines for such reforms and outlining actions that the US will take if those reforms are not undertaken,” it said.