The US is hostile toward all nations it doesn’t control, waging war on them by naked aggression and other means, including against China.
Pressuring and bullying the country to bend to its interests failed, what Trump and hardliners surrounding him don’t understand.
If his counterproductive policies escalate things toward recession, possibly a long overdue stiff protracted one after a decade of fiscal and monetary excess, he may learn the hard way by electoral defeat in November 2020.
China has lots of ways to counter hostile US policies, including by letting its currency weaken to offset unacceptable US tariffs, perhaps heading for 25% on all Chinese imports.
Last week, Trump said he intends to impose 10% tariffs on another $300 billion worth of Chinese goods, effective September 1, the levies to hit cell phones, computers, and other consumer goods.
China retaliated by suspending purchases of US soybeans and other agricultural products, along with letting its yuan fall, making its exports cheaper.
According to economist Gregory Daco, what’s going on “add(s) further stress to an already stressed trade environment, (risking) a very significant slowdown in economic growth,” adding:
A 10% tariff on all remaining Chinese imports could rise to 25% in the coming months. Along with duties on European auto imports, a late 2019 or early 2020 recession is most likely.
As Trump regime toughness on China escalates, its ruling authorities may let the yuan weaken further and take other steps to offset the damage, including by increased trade with Russia.
In July, Chinese and Russian commerce ministers met to discuss ways to increase bilateral trade. Each country considers the other a reliable political, economic, financial, trade, and military partner.
Agreement was reached on increasing trade in soybeans and other agricultural products. In June at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping agreed to increase bilateral trade from $107 billion in 2018 to $200 billion ahead.
On Wednesday, the White House banned federal agencies from buying products and services from Huawei and other Chinese tech companies.
Citing national security reasons is pure deception. The action is part of longstanding US policy to undermine China’s developmental aims, Trump doubling down on earlier actions.
The announcement came a year ahead of congressionally mandated August 2020 cessation of business relations with Chinese tech companies by federal contractors — reflecting bipartisan US hostility toward the country.
Republicans and Dems consider China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and other sovereign independent countries the US doesn’t control as “adversaries.”
A Huawei spokesman responded to the latest announcement, saying:
“The news today was not unexpected…Huawei continues to challenge the constitutionality of the ban in federal court,” adding:
It “will do nothing to ensure the protection of US telecoms networks and systems and rather is trade barrier-based on country of origin, invoking punitive action without any evidence of wrongdoing.”
“Ultimately, it will be rural citizens across the US that will be most negatively impacted as the networks they use for digital connectivity rely on Huawei.”
Trump regime rage to undermine China’s aim to be a leading industrial, economic, and technological power is heading things toward full-blown war on the country by other means.
Its actions come at a time of growing economic weakness and geopolitical tensions in the Indo/Pacific, Middle East and Latin America — mainly because of hostile US policies toward nations on its target list for regime change.
A Final Comment
On Tuesday, China slammed US war secretary Mark Esper’s unacceptable accusation — falsely claiming Beijing is destabilizing the Indo/Pacific region, its Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying:
“It’s crystal clear who is undermining regional stability in the Asia-Pacific region” — and other parts of the world she could have added.
China is at peace with other nations, threatening none. The US is at war with humanity, Hua stressing the following:
“We develop military power out of self-defense purpose. We do not intend to and will not pose a threat to any country.”
“All of China’s land-based short- and intermediate-range missiles are deployed within our territory, which testifies to the defensive nature of our defense policy.”
“(I)f the United States deploys intermediate-range missiles in Asia-Pacific, especially around China, its aim will apparently be offensive.”
“China will not just sit idly by and watch our interests being compromised. What’s more, we will not allow any country to stir up troubles at our doorstep. We will take all necessary measures to safeguard national security interests.”
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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
