The line filing
complaints at the USTR’s (US Trade Representative Office), public hearings
against Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on 200 billion US dollars worth of
imports from China, is now becoming like those notorious waiting lines in
Moscow for the purchase of bread and butter during the old Soviet Union days.
We are indeed
talking about an issue concerning people’s bread and butter.
A total of 1400
written comments are on record with the USTR so far, an overwhelming majority
of which are complaints. So many people, including from businesses big and
small, are desperately vying for a few minutes to share their pain that the
USTR has to double the length of the tariff hearings to six days from the
previously planned three, starting from August 20.
In this file photo taken on February
16, 2017, a street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange in New York.
/VCG Photo
It is abundantly
clear there is an overwhelming demand from companies to testify. So far the
USTR has released a list of 359 people who will present testimony. That is
roughly 60 testimonies a day, averaging eight minutes per testimony, assuming
non-stop sessions every day. I hope they can tell their story to the fullest
extent in those eight minutes. Good luck to you. American people need to speak
up. American people need to hear and share your pain.
This time
around, items in the 200 billion US dollars list that are subject to the 10
percent tariffs would include not only intermediate industrial goods and
capital goods, but consumer products as well that would hit directly at
people’s pockets. The list is so broad and comprehensive that one news report
used the phrase “from the cradle to the grave” to describe the extent of its
impact.
Graco says the
likely price hike of its cribs due to the proposed tariffs may force parents to
use unsafe sleeping environments or let children dangerously co-sleep with
parents. Evenflo Feeding said the tariffs will hit manual breast pumps “and
would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests.”
Centennial
Casket Corp, a Plano, Texas-based company said it relies exclusively on
Chinese-made caskets, and the tariffs would raise costs for “grieving families
purchasing caskets for their loved ones at one of the worst times of their
life.”
United States President Donald Trump
makes remarks after touring the White House "Made in America
Showcase" in the Cross Hall of the White House in Washington, DC July 23,
2018. /VCG Photo
The Sino-US
relationship is at the worst time of its life, thanks to Trump’s strong-arm
policy. I am not hopeful that the cold-blooded lawyer USTR Mr. Robert
Lighthizer would have any sympathy towards these people coming to hearings.
What is going to happen is entirely expected. Tariffs will be imposed, until
Trump himself will probably personally strike out a deal with President Xi. It
is clear to me that he wants himself to declare the end of this cross-Pacific
spat, and he would declare it as a victory.
The problem is
that we just have to wait. The two leaders are not going to meet until November
during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. In the meantime, these mindless tariffs
will have a few months to wreak havoc on our lives.
That means the
inflation ghost will creep ashore across America very soon. McDonald’s Big Mac
may see a 50-cent price hike. Dollar Tree will see hardly any items for less a
buck; it should change its name to Dollar Three. Wal-Mart will have its
employees busy changing a massive amount of price tags next.
This photo taken on July 19, 2018,
shows sacks of animal feed made from soybeans at the Hopefull Grain and Oil
Group in Sanhe, in China's northern Hebei province. /VCG Photo
But these are
places where people of Trump’s staunchest political base are likely to
patronize. Last time when the Midwest farmers were hit hard by China’s soybean
tariff, he dug out a 12 billion US dollars check from an old Great Depression
aid program for assistance. Now this time he needs 20 billion US dollars if he
wants to make his people whole in the same way. But the question is: where is
that 20 US dollars billion going to come from?
Executive editor/ Liang Chenglu
Editor/ Meng Han
Dr. John Gong is a research fellow at the Charhar Institute and a professor at the University of International Business and Economics of China.
Source:CGTN,2018-8-21
Original Link: https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514f344d6a4e79457a6333566d54/share_p.html?from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0