Financial Times von heute - Ein Auszug - beide Parteien sind nun China Hawks...
It leaves the two presidential rivals competing to see which of them can appear the most aggressive protector of working class American jobs in the face of rising Chinese manufacturing prowess.
“[Biden and Trump] are both trying to strike at China and prop up domestic competitors,” said Myron Brilliant, senior counsellor with Dentons Global Advisors-ASG, a Washington consultancy. “And they are doing that in the context of a politically charged season in which no one wants to look weak on China.”
Biden was critical of Trump’s approach to trade with China before the 2020 election, blasting the sweeping tariffs his predecessor imposed on $300bn worth of imports from the Asian nation, saying they amounted to a penalty on US consumers.
But as tensions with Beijing persisted into his time in office, Biden has declined to eliminate Trump’s tariffs, embracing the protectionist centrepiece of his rival’s trade agenda — even as inflation rose sharply in late 2021 and early 2022.
Some Democrats were generally upbeat about Biden’s announcement on Tuesday.
Debbie Dingell, the Michigan congresswoman who attended the Rose Garden speech, said in a statement the tariffs would support Biden’s efforts to ensure US cars would be “made in America by American workers”.
“We have made clear this is not about escalation. This is about the consequences of decades of economic policy and the need for the United States to defend our rights,” Katherine Tai, US trade representative, told reporters. |