The Biden administration’s China policy has begun to take shape and has begun to contain China. CCTV’s reporters in the United States have studied and judged the United States’ China policy. It has gradually changed from trying to “change China’s internal environment” to trying to “change China’s external environment” through joint allies. Russia can’t turn it over, and then concentrate on dealing with China. The United States does have the meaning of “Xiangzhuang dances the sword, aiming at Peigong”. But there is always a distance between ideals and reality, and the biggest headache for Biden is inflation.
After hitting a high of 7.9% in February, U.S. inflation hit a new high in March, breaking 8 for the first time in 40 years. The US consumer price index (CPI) increased by 8.5% year-on-year in March, which is also the sixth consecutive month that the US CPI has exceeded 6%. American economist Peter Schiff predicts that U.S. inflation is accelerating.
The Federal Reserve has begun to raise interest rates and cut water. The results of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate meeting will be announced in the early hours of Thursday (5th). However, raising interest rates is not easy to prevent inflation from rising. .
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said that it will initiate a review process for the additional tariffs on China. The statement stated that it will inform those domestic industry representatives who have benefited from the tariffs on China that the relevant tariffs may be lifted, unless industry representatives can meet on July 5th and 8th. Apply to the office to maintain the additional tariffs by March 22. The office will review the relevant tariffs on the basis of the application, and these tariffs will be maintained during the review period.
The statement went round and round, making it difficult to understand. But to put it simply, the two actions of the United States to impose tariffs on Chinese imports will expire on July 6 and August 23, respectively, claiming that relevant companies can request an extension of the tariff decision before the deadline. Why do business enterprises apply for the continuation of tariffs on Chinese products imported by themselves and increase the cost of enterprises? Therefore, this statement shows that the United States has a good chance of canceling the tariffs imposed on China.
Due to the sharp increase in inflationary pressures, there has been a resurgence of calls in the United States to reduce or exempt additional tariffs on China recently. U.S. Trade Representative Dai Qi said at an event on Monday (May 2) that the U.S. government will take all policy measures to curb price spikes, suggesting that reducing tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the U.S. will be considered.
On April 21, Daleep Singh, the White House’s deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, said at a public event that the tariffs imposed by the previous Trump administration on Chinese products may have provided the government with some As a bargaining chip, the U.S. can also use tariffs to advance strategic priorities, such as strengthening critical supply chains, maintaining U.S. leadership in fundamental technologies, and supporting national security. “But for categories of products that don’t address those goals, there’s not a strong case for tariffs,” he asked rhetorically. “Why do we have tariffs on bicycles, clothing, or even underwear?”
Singer didn’t mention it, maybe everyone didn’t pay attention. In 2018, in order to put pressure on China, Trump imposed a one-size-fits-all tax increase on underwear and bicycles. The only thing is that underwear is expensive.
On the one hand, US trade officials want to cut taxes on Chinese products, but on the other hand, they will also speak harshly to China. These political actions cannot alleviate the inflationary pressure in the United States itself. On April 20, the U.S. Federal Reserve released its survey report on the national economic situation. Factors such as labor shortages and rising prices continue to pose challenges, the report said. The outlook for future economic growth continues to be clouded by heightened uncertainty from the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and rising prices. On the price front in particular, inflationary pressures remain strong, with the prices of raw materials, transport and labor all rising significantly, while agricultural, metals and fuel prices have also risen to higher levels.
In the past two years, the United States has been quantifying the relaxation of water, which already has huge inflationary pressure. Coupled with the US sanctions against Russia, commodity and energy prices have risen sharply. Although the US has not been hit as hard as Europe, it is enough to release the monster of inflation from its cage. Of course, it is not so easy to take it back. America is lifting a stone and falling on its own feet.
Li Tong