US tariff addiction — a cause of concern to global economy
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E-mail Xinhua, May 24, 2019
Since the beginning of 2018, the United States, carrying the flag of "America First," has been enthusiastic about wielding the tariff stick against its trade partners including Mexico, Canada, the European Union (EU), Japan and China.
The U.S. addiction to tariff, denounced by many as a protectionist and unilateralist approach, has become a cause of concern to the U.S. as well as the global economy.
Shooting in all directions
The U.S. government has been playing tough with all countries that it claimed are treating the United States unfairly.
On June 1, 2018, Washington unilaterally slapped a 25-percent tariff on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum, provoking retaliation from trading partners including Canada, Mexico and the EU.
On April 8 this year, it threatened again possible tariff hikes against a number of EU products in the civil aviation sector.
On May 6, the U.S. government said it would begin imposing a 17.5-percent tariff on imported Mexican tomatoes.
Besides, Japan had been in Washington's cross-hairs for its exports of automobiles and car parts to the United States.
And the White House has been especially aggressive towards China. Since March 2018, the U.S. government has repeatedly raised tariffs on China imports, forcing the Asian country to fight back in similar tariff hikes.
While Beijing has demonstrated utmost sincerity in resolving the trade problems, Washington has kept seeking unreasonable gains by imposing maximum pressure, which was the fundamental factor behind the failure to reach a deal between the two countries after 11 rounds of high-level economic and trade consultations.
In an opinion piece, Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, wrote that the U.S. government believes in "transactions over alliances, bilateralism over multilateralism, unpredictability over consistency, power over rules and interests over ideals."
Coming out of Americans' pockets
The U.S. government has repeatedly claimed that the tariff measures will profit the United States, but few around the world agree.
It is not in the interest of either U.S. consumers or Chinese workers "to have this endless escalation of trade conflict," Jason Isaacson, chief policy and political affairs officer at the American Jewish Committee, told Xinhua.
To silver-haired Iowa farmer Rick Kimberley, "it's a slow-burn, it's affecting us slowly. I mean it's affecting our income."
Kimberley's hunch was right. According to U.S. newspaper the Star Tribune, a total of 84 farms in U.S. Upper Midwest region filed for bankruptcy between July 2017 and June 2018, doubling the number in 2013 and 2014, partly due to raging trade disputes.
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