The world’s market economies have limited room to maneuver.
new Financial Times opinionU.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has made a subtle call for international economic cooperation to counter Chinese economic manipulation. In her essay, Tai alludes to the 1941 Atlantic Charter as a “guideline” for the global economy to work toward “economic policies that serve the interests of workers,” a goal toward which Tai has devoted considerable effort over the past few weeks.
Last month, the USTR completed its Section 301 review of imports from China. Raise tariffs It imposed tariffs on $18 billion worth of Chinese products in key industries, including electric vehicles, solar cells, and semiconductors, and in April, the USTR launched a Section 301 investigation. The current state of China’s shipbuilding industryThese efforts are key to restoring fair and balanced trade for the United States. But while the United States has been aggressive in challenging China’s non-market policies, we cannot do it alone.
International cooperation to counter Chinese overcapacity is a crucial step to ensure Beijing’s trade cheats do not find a safe haven. Last Saturday, G7 finance ministers said Reaffirmed his determination Encouraging fair trade and preparing to combat overcapacity, on Tuesday Canadian Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland “Canada is not a transshipment country,” they argued. However, these countries still One step behind We want the US to impose new trade barriers.
“The stakes are high,” Tai wrote in the Financial Times. “As Oxford historian Patricia Clavin has documented, democracies failed to find common ground on international economic issues in the 1930s, with devastating consequences. We face uncertainty and fear again, but we must seize the opportunity to make the world a safer and fairer place. And we know it is a task we must undertake together.”
It’s time for U.S. allies to act. “A tariff wall against Chinese imports and the countries China is using to evade trade measures is entirely appropriate in this case,” Scott Paul of the American Manufacturing Federation said in a recent statement. statement“Our allies must understand that this is a challenge that the World Trade Organization cannot and will not solve.”
Beijing’s attempts to eliminate competitors by dumping state-subsidized products on the free market are well-known and are nothing new. We have seen the consequences of Chinese trade tampering first-hand in the United States over the past few decades in steel and other key manufacturing industries. The G7 nations have a limited opportunity to follow the U.S. lead and avoid, as Tai puts it, “a laissez-faire system that has allowed short-term profit-driven companies to maximize their profits.”
“American businesses are strong, innovative, and dynamic. When the playing field is level, they can compete and thrive,” Tai wrote. “But we must be clear that China is not just a trading partner; it is seeking global dominance in key economic sectors, whether in digital trade or elsewhere.”
