What distinguishes Joe Biden from Donald Trump is, among others, their approach to allies, investments in the US, the language used and leaving room for potential cooperation with China – they believe experts of the Polish Economic Institute. They recall that the Joe Biden administration in May this year imposed tariffs on China, including 100% of the value of imported electric cars, and is focusing more on low-emission technologies and critical sectors. Donald But Trump can go further.
Donald Trump announces 60% tariff on Chinese products
Donald Trump's campaign promises to impose a 60% tariff on all products imported from China. According to PIE's analysis, imports from China would fall from the current $427 billion dollars to just 107 billion USD. The costs would be borne mainly by American consumers. Goldman Sachs, in turn, predicts that inflation would increase by 1.1 percentage points. Consumer inflation in the US was 3 percent in June.
PIE experts remind that Robert Lighthizer, Trade Representative (USTR) in the administration the president Trump, in his 2023 book “No Trade Is Free,” argues that not only strict supervision of high-tech trade and limiting investment ties with China are needed, but also strategic decoupling, in short, separating economic dependencies between the US and China, and raising tariffs is in turn necessary to eliminate the trade deficit. In 2023, the US trade deficit with China was $279 billion.
America's Answer to “Made in China 2025”
This would be a response to China's offensive, including the “Made in China 2025” strategy launched in 2015. This is a plan to transform China into a leader in advanced industry, and one of the main pillars is, among other things, closing the technological gap.
“A hard decoupling is advocated by Trump's former national security adviser Robert O'Brien, as well as serving-sentence former economic adviser Peter Navarro. Trump's vice presidential candidate will also support isolationist trade policies Senator James D. Vancewhich wants to support industrial jobs in the USA through trade barriers,” say experts from the Polish Economic Institute.