According to the website of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on December 5, Shi Jiandao, an expert on trade issues at the Washington Institute of American Enterprise, said that the ongoing 301 U.S. investigation may be implemented by the United States for China's telecom and semiconductor products, including consumer electronics products Skeepers said that the U.S. president could unilaterally impose six-month sanctions or quotas on China's exports to the United States, including the quota.
He predicted: 'If the United States takes such a large-scale operation, I think China will also retaliate against U.S. agriculture.'
According to reports, the U.S. trade representative launched the survey in August this year upon the request of President Donald Trump as part of the U.S. trade action against China that could aggravate tensions. After the U.S. trade representative concluded the investigation and announced After the conclusion, if both sides can not negotiate an agreement, the United States may raise tariffs on China.
Reports said the Trump administration has also launched a government investigation aimed at reducing bilateral trade deficits and examining whether Chinese steel imports threaten national security, both of which could lead the United States to take unilateral action against China.
According to the U.S. "Wall Street Journal," the White House is considering six 'unilateral moves to fundamentally challenge China's trade behavior' after Trump's first official visit to China early last month and is expected to make a formal decision early next year.
It is reported that by the end of 2017, the United States has further pressed China on trade and economic issues in the past two weeks.
The report said the U.S. Department of Commerce started a new survey of aluminum alloy plates imported from China at the end of last month, and for the first time in 26 years, the United States initiated an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation on China autonomously, triggering a 'strong dissatisfaction' with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
Subsequently, the United States submitted a written statement to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, refusing to recognize China's market economy status. If supported by the WTO, the United States will continue to impose high anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports.
However, Shi said that most U.S. unilateral actions are too small to trigger a 'trade war.' "China's trade surplus with the United States last year was over 300 billion U.S. dollars, and China may lose even more."
Gary Huffbower, a Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics researcher, said in an interview that the two largest economies in the world are unlikely to experience a full-scale trade war in the coming months, and said that if the U.S. With all tariffs on Chinese imports subject to 10% and China retaliating, "we will soon enter the trade war." Trump, when campaigning for president, said he would impose a 45% tariff on Chinese products.
According to the US Census Bureau, the United States imported 360 billion U.S. dollars of goods from China in the first nine months of this year, and Huff Bauer said even a 10% tariff would have a "huge impact" on China because " Equivalent to at least 36 billion U.S. dollars per year. "However, he said the United States may take unilateral actions in May next year, for example, raising taxes on aluminum and steel products in China, adding that the United States may start the 'censorship process.'" US companies can limit the range of technologies used in China, a move that will counterattack Beijing's move to require foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese joint ventures.
Huff Bauer said China may resort to no longer procuring aircraft or agricultural products from the United States, and Beijing may also impose anti-dumping duties on products imported from the United States.