The purpose of tariffs is not chiefly to overcome the trade imbalance between the two countries and protect American workers. Trump’s real goal, besides energizing his base for the 2018 elections and splitting the ranks of the U.S. labor movement, is to thwart China from becoming a direct economic rival and make it abandon its socialist-oriented economic strategy. This flows from Trump’s new national security strategy, which declared China and Russia strategic economic and military rivals.
Until now, China has competed with other developing countries to produce consumer goods for advanced industrialized economies. In the future, it will be competing more directly with the U.S. and other advanced capitalist economies in the advanced manufacturing and technological sectors.
Trump wants China to dismantle its “Made in China 2025” strategy, a 10-year plan to make the country a world leader in key scientific and technical fields and advanced manufacturing, with an aim to sharply increase productivity (which is approximately one-third that of the U.S. economy). Read more:
Join Now