Letters | How China can push Trump’s buttons on trade for now and gain goodwill in the US in the long term
- China could call Trump’s bluff by taxing the goods that the US president has selectively exempted from tariffs. However, the country must also take steps to win over Americans hit hard by global trade
Taking the long view, China could just let the dust settle. It’s not a really big deal if progress takes 10 to 20 years longer than expected, although it means more people will not have better lives sooner.
China takes steps to support jobs as trade war hits employment
Assuming that one did want to take action, and finds Trump's presumption of absolute power unpalatable, the practical starting point might be to look not at where Trump’s votes come from, but rather what his friends want him to protect.
Trump controls reality for his voters, so they don't matter very much. But while some companies have been protected from tariffs, others have been thrown under the bus. What leverage points exist, exist there.
China should use power symbolically: Add taxes at export to the prices of just a few parts, so that they match the 10 to 25 per cent tariff rate that Trump is trying to exempt them from.
This will demonstrate that we live in an interdependent world, in which Trump cannot take action alone.
Trump-Xi ceasefire isn’t enough to resolve their deep divisions
Why not figure out what interventions could improve those people’s lives, and take sustainable action to establish goodwill? What has China learned in improving the lives of its own people that could benefit people around the world?
Sima Yi, San Francisco