Question

Read the article “White House preparing for trade crackdown” by Andrew Restuccia and Doug
Palmer (Jan. 7, 2018) available at https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/07/trump-tradecrackdown-
327283. or https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/07/trump-trade-crackdown-327283
(a) If the Trump government decides to take an aggressive action by imposing harsh tariffs on
Chinese imports, what is the motivation behind? In other words, what kinds of economic benefits
President Trump is expecting when imports from China are reduced?

Answer 1

The motivation is gain to usa due to reduced imports. Trump says China is indulging in unfair trade practices. Chinese imports cause serious injury to domestic industry. Trump wants to help affected companies by reducing imports from China. Further Chinese imports in steel for example harm national security. These industries are of strategic value. Thus he wants to help domestic producers of these strategic industries without harming other sectors. Furthermore Chinese practices have forced usa companies to turn over valuable technology and reduced value of their intellectual property rights. They may be in violation of wto rules. Trump wants to reduce these problems