How trade tariffs are Donald Trump helping the US stand up to a predatory China

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A warehouse at a steel plant in China’s northern Hebei province, in April 2016. US President Donald Trump has announced punishing tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium. Photo: AFP

Published: 9:30am, 8 Apr 2018Updated: 12:35pm, 15 Oct 2020

As an American, I am glad to see that President Donald Trump is standing up to China’s predatory behaviour on trade, intellectual property and just about everything else. It’s about time.

For too long, American presidents have stood idly by while our country suffers huge losses at the hands of Beijing. Of late, China has been dumping steel and aluminium in the United States, in a deliberate effort to destroy America’s defence industrial base. As Trump has made clear, this has to stop.

President Trump also announced that tariffs of 25 per cent will be imposed on US$60 billion in Chinese products that are manufactured using technology stolen or strong-armed from American companies.

This sounds like a lot, but it is really only a tiny fraction of the US$600 billion in intellectual property that the FBI estimates China steals from the US annually.

Add this theft to China’s US$500 billion-dollar trade surplus with the US, and it becomes clear that the predatory Chinese state and its operatives are making off with over a trillion dollars a year. The Chinese party-state is engineering the largest transfer of wealth in human history with one overriding goal: to replace the US as the dominant power on the planet.

China ready to defend its interests ‘at any cost’ in trade war

Trump understands that China is not just engaging in a trade war with the US, but an all-out contest for global economic dominance in the 21st century. And he is determined that America will win.