The US plans to impose tariffs on up to $60bn (£42.5bn) in Chinese imports and limit the country’s investment in the US in retaliation for years of alleged intellectual property theft.
The White House said the actions were necessary to counter unfair competition from China’s state-led economy.
It said years of talks had failed to produce change. China said it was ready to retaliate with “necessary measures”.
Beijing also said it would “fight to the end” in any trade war with the US.
Owen
Everything but tech support.
I love this, and here’s why. And downright frightening, this.
China ignores world-wide patent and copyright laws. They flood markets with fake goods and with products (see: steel, solar panels) at prices far below cost of manufacturing in attempts to gain control of those markets.
I couldn’t care less if China retaliates by further limiting US pork imports, on which they already place tariff. Let them starve. And I am more than willing to pay an extra $2 for cheap sunglasses made in the US.
(p.s. Trump should NOT have exempted Canada and Mexico from steel and aluminum tariffs; both are mostly just distributors/fabricators of Chinese metal)
Well, then, let the ChiComs steal YOUR I.P. and sell it at 90% off.
Would you “like” that?
Remember, Walker’s budget will spend $60Bn in about 18 months. It’s not really much money.
Dad29, do you know about ePackets? It’s a way for Chinese merchants to ship a big box to the US at a flat rate, where it’s opened by USPS and all the sub-packages inside are delivered to US recipients.
ChinaPost, eBay and the USPS cut a deal to allow these ePackets to flow at near-zero costs because Congress pressures USPS to make more money (without raising rates) so USPS liked it, the Chinese liked it, and they’re subsidizing new business this way. eBay likes it because they get paid and expand PayPal. It harms intra-US sellers because USPS rates are high so they can’t compete, so the flow is one-way even though there’s an ePacket program for US wholesalers, it’s still not as cheap.
You can’t send a fat letter between two states (or maybe even across the street) for what the Chinese are paying to ship air mail to the US. The Chinese are paying bulk rates of about $25 per two kilos (4.4 pounds) and not per-piece to the US. USPS is delivering to us for next-to-nothing.
For example, I’ve paid as little as $3.22 total for a packet of five electronic components on eBay, and they arrive from China in a week.
There’s probably a layer or two of Chinese finance and politics I’m overlooking, and arguably, it’s the Chinese milking the dysfunction of the US government.