Written by Dan Steinbock, Difference Group
As President Trump is again suspending the opportunity for trade compromise, new US tariffs are not only alienating US allies and partners but undermining America’s own future prospects.
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On Monday, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a new 10 percent tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods. That will not only re-escalate the trade war with China but contribute to new risks of collateral damage to the US economy.
And make no mistake: While China is the first target; the next ones will include some of the largest trading economies in Europe, East Asia and Americas.
US tech giants will not be immune
US semiconductor chipmakers, including as Intel and Qualcomm, generate $15 billion each in annual revenue in China. The two are amid a great unease as US government is considering tariffs on chips imported from China, which has a critical place in their supply chains.
For Apple and Intel, China accounts almost a fourth of revenues
Due to increasing global interdependency, US unilateral moves are undermining the profitability and future prospects of not just US and Chinese companies, but other companies that are held up by the trade war. While Qualcomm needs China’s approval for its $44 billion buy of NXP Semiconductors, the latter is linked with US relief for Chinese telecom giant ZTE, which Trump supports but US Congress may oppose. That means uncertainty to the Dutch NXP’s workers, suppliers and buyers.
The leading global technology companies have an estimated $100-150 billion at stake in the US-China trade war.
For Apple and Intel, China accounts almost a fourth of revenues (read: $45 billion and $15 billion, respectively). In Broadcom and Microsoft each, a tenth of revenues ($9-$10 billion in each) come from China. After Google shut down its Chinese search engine in 2010, it has dreamed about a return. In turn, Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes to launch his site in the mainland. Trump’s message to both is: Dream on.
Trump tariffs threaten … US export potential, investment projects and low-cost advantages.
The greater is the Chinese segment in US multinationals’ revenues, the greater headwinds they now expect. Boeing’s shares are down, as the US giant seeks for a cut in the $1.1 trillion that China will spend in the next 20 years to buy new airplanes. After all, Beijing could also purchase its planes from France.
How the trade wars will hurt America
The new Trump tariffs threaten to increase barriers to Chinese markets, while alienating Chinese consumers from US products and services, thus penalizing US export potential, investment projects and low-cost advantages.
Without a compromise, US businesses may lose $70 billion in energy, agriculture and manufacturing that China has offered to purchase, if the Trump administration will suspend tariffs on Chinese products. The energy story alone is alarming. When Washington in 2015 lifted its 40-year export ban for crude oil, China’s imports of US crude soared to 450,000 barrels a day. It is now one of the largest US markets. But as Trump tariffs will result in proportionate Chinese retaliation, those profits could dissipate.
US businesses may lose $70 billion in energy, agriculture and manufacturing that China has offered to purchase
In 2017, US exports to China soared to $130 billion. In the absence of a trade compromise, the most lucrative export groups, including civilian aircraft and engines, soybeans, passenger cars and semiconductors, industrial machines, crude oil, and plastic materials, are likely to feel new pressures in the coming months.
China could also defer the huge trade and investment deals that were signed during Trump’s visit to Beijing. As the US is erecting new barriers against Chinese investments in the US, China can respond in kind, while launching restrictions on imports of US services.
The worst is still ahead
Trump’s trade wars have only begun. The White House’s ultimate objective is to target America’s largest trade-deficit partners in Asia (China, Japan, and South Korea), Americas (Canada, Mexico) and Europe (Germany, Italy).
Misled by his trade-hawk advisors, Trump has opted for tariffs that the White House hopes will “break” China’s resistance, which will then serve as a warning to US NAFTA partners and allies in Europe and East Asia. Yet, wishful dreams aren’t economic realities.
wishful dreams aren’t economic realities.
What these tariffs could (and should) achieve is a united front of world’s major economies that support global trading regime that has ensured sustained global growth prospects since 1945. That’s why China, China, along with major European and Asian economies, is likely to challenge the US in the WTO dispute mechanism. That’s also why these countries plan to counter every Trump blow with proportionate retaliation.
In the US, that means accelerated economic erosion, volatility in global markets and new uncertainty as clouds are darkening over the post-global crisis recovery.
This article is adapted from commentary released by China Daily on 21 June 2018.
