Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese goods to 145 percent to pressure China into making concessions. But economic conditions indicate that it is in reality the United States that is the weakest in the conflict. This is reported by the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger.
China has responded with counter-tariffs of 125 percent and has reduced its dependence on the American market over a number of years. In the early 2000s, 40 percent of Chinese exports went to the United States - today the figure is below 15 percent.
Trump already imposed tariffs on China in 2018 on steel and solar cells, among other things, during his first presidential term. This has led to Chinese companies increasingly sending their products to markets in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Third countries such as Vietnam are sometimes used as intermediate stations to circumvent US tariffs – something that US authorities have difficulty controlling.
The economic consequences of the conflict are significantly greater for the US than for China. American industrial companies risk price increases of up to 46 percent on important components, and the US could, according to calculations, suffer three times the loss as China.
- It will be very difficult for the Trump administration to keep the conflict going in this form, says Hans Gersbach, an economist at ETH Zurich.
Xi Jinping is politically stronger than Trump. He is not up for re-election and is experiencing increased national support, while Trump has lost support in polls – especially on economic issues.
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