While Mexico and Canada returned, China pulls the blows to Trump’s tariffs | News Donald Trump

Taipei, Taiwan – A few hours of the announcement of the President of the United States Donald Trump Tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico Over the weekend, his Canadian and Mexican colleagues returned their own levies to US goods.

The response of China, the largest strategic rival of Washington, was much more restrained.

The Chinese Ministry of Trade did not announce certain tariffs in its response on Sunday, stating only that “appropriate countermeasures will be firmly protected by their rights and interests.”

The Ministry also announced that it would challenge tariffs at the World Trade Organization, which is mostly a symbolic measure because its appeal body has been dysfunctional since the end of 2019. Because of the rejection of Washington to support the appointment of new judges.

Beijing’s relatively muffled answer comes because the US-kine relationships went to a surprisingly friendly start under Trump’s second administration.

Asked at the Economic Forum Davos on January 23, about his first call with Chinese leader XI Jinping, Trump said he believed the countries would have a “very good relationship”.

In an interview with Fox News, which was aired on the same day, Trump said that “he would rather not” impose tariffs at China and expressed interest in reaching an agreement with XI.

“It is very convincing” that Trump and Xi see the opportunity to agree on, said Julien Chaisse, an expert in international economic law at the Hong Kong City University.

“Not necessarily because their wider goals are harmonized, but because both act in a world where political and economic influence is constantly calibrated, where tariffs are as much as signal power as far as changing trade saldas- and where the wider geopolitical climate often dictates briefly “The expression of economic moves far more than suggested any conventional trade logic,” Chaisse told Al Jazeera.

“This is particularly relevant considering that China has historically always responded to US tariffs with precise rather than a wide retaliation, avoiding escalation when possible, and it is ensured that it does not seem weak.”

Although Trump’s imposition of 25 percent of tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods is a major shock for a trade system between three countries – which operate under the free trade agreement from naphta signing in 1994 – China has been fighting for his exports from his first term of office.

Trump’s announcement of a 10 percent tariff was also less than 60 percent of tariffs, which he threatened to impose Chinese goods during his re -election campaign.

Added to existing tariffs, new measures bring an average tariff to Chinese goods from about 20 percent to 30 percent, according to Deborah Elms, head of trade policy at Hinrich Foundation in Singapore.

Elms said Beijing’s decision to go to WTO allowed to conclude a dispute about the “principles” of global trade.

“The WTO joining was challenging for China because it included a number of economic reforms and a significant reduction in tariff rates,” Elms told Al Jazeera.

“But China continued that the case was worth it because the benefits of a part of the global trade system were significant. I think this is why China is now turning to WTO as one part of its strategy to suppress Trump.”

Steve Okun, founder and CEO of APAC Advisors in Singapore, said Beijing could also have passed his time before making other measures.

“It’s an introductory salvo,” he told Al Jazeera Okun.

“It is not working to influence American behavior. The Chinese have to do something. If they do it, they can also show a domestic audience in China and their global audience” we follow the rules, now they are not. “It gives them time to understand what to do next.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, did not immediately respond to the commentary request.

Despite slowing the economy, Beijing is in a stronger position to negotiate with the US than Canada or Mexico.

The Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) is about $ 19 billion, compared to US GDP of about $ 30 trillion. The GDP of Canada and Mexico are far smaller, about $ 2.1 trillion, or $ 1.8 trillion.

The Peterson Institute for economic questions estimated that the tariffs on Mexico and Canada could delete as much as $ 200 billion from the US economy over the next four years, $ 100 billion than a much smaller Canada economy, and reduce Mexico economy by 2 percent.

Tariffs on Chinese goods could separate the US economy separately by another $ 55 billion and the Chinese economy by $ 128 billion, according to the Institute analysis.

Carsten Holz, a professor of economics at the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong, said Chinese policy creators probably concluded that Tariffs would do more damage to the US than China, since Americans face higher inflation and that Trump is Trump may have exceeded his authority from the measure.

“There is no rush that the economic superpower can be easily provoked,” Holz told Al Jazeera. “If Trump escalates your war on PrC, significant retaliation can still be taken.”

On Monday, Wall Street Journal, quoting unnamed sources, reported that Beijing planned to suggest a revival of a trade agreement sealed in 2020 during Trump’s first term in power.

According to the terms of the agreement, China agreed to buy US goods worth $ 200 billion over two years.

The agreement, however, disturbed the Pandemia of the Coid-19, and China fulfilled only 58 percent of its obligations, according to the Peterson Institute for Economic Issues.

Chaisse said that a similar job could be the ultimate goal for the USA and China.

“The lower tariff rate on China compared to a favorable 2 percent of imports from Canada and Mexico suggests strategically, not purely economic calculation,” he said.