Why All Went Quiet on the Western Trade Front

Although many hailed last week ’s “trade agreement” between President Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as an important achievement, it included no firm commitments to reduce tariffs, non-tariff barriers, or subsidies—or to do anything for that matter. The only agreement of substance was that new tariffs would not be imposed, while Washington and Brussels negotiated longer-term solutions to problems both real and imagined.Those hungering for some good trade news might call that progress, but the only new tariffs that were under consideration (outside the exclusive domain of the president ’s head) were those related to the Commerce Department’s investigation into the national security implications of automobile and auto parts imports. Of course, that investigation is still proceeding and there’s no reason to think Trump won’t leverage the threat of imposing auto tariffs to be nd the outcome of those EU negotiations in his favor.So what does Trump want? Trump seems committed to prosecuting a trade war with China and he expects the EU to have his back in that fight. Trump ’s tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese products are scheduled to expand to $50 billion in early August and potentially to $250 billion in September. In a recent CNBC interview, Trump even threatened to subject all Chinese goods—more than $500 billion worth of imports in 2017—to additional tariff s.For the first $34 billion, China has retaliated in kind, targeting mo...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs