[Text/Observer Network Wang Yi] On April 8, the American polling agency Pew Research Center released a survey on how Americans view President Trump's early foreign policy. The survey results show that 52% of Americans believe that imposing tariffs on Chinese goods will have an adverse impact on the U.S., and 53% think it will also negatively affect them personally.

Jack Zhang, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, pointed out that this survey result contradicts the Trump administration's claim that "imposing tariffs on products imported from China benefits the U.S.", reflecting a growing public awareness of the impact of tariffs. "People actually know how this will harm their livelihoods," he said, predicting that opposition to tariff increases on China will grow stronger.

This survey was conducted between March 24 and March 30. The Pew Research Center interviewed 3,605 American adults online or by phone. The center stated that each participant was recruited through random sampling, and the sample could represent the adult population of the United States by gender, race, ethnicity, party affiliation, education, and other categories, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points.

The Pew Research Center found that despite the survey being conducted before Trump announced an additional 34% tariff on Chinese goods on April 2, respondents only considered the previous two rounds of 10% tariffs imposed on all Chinese goods. Regarding these 20% tariffs, more Americans had negative views of Trump's tariffs. A much larger proportion believed that taxing China was detrimental to the U.S. than those who thought it beneficial. Those who believed that increasing tariffs on China would harm them personally were about five times as many as those who thought it would benefit them.

The survey results also revealed significant partisan differences in perception. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to believe that imposing tariffs on China was beneficial for the U.S. Eighty percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning individuals believed this was harmful to the U.S., while only 24% of Republicans or Republican-leaning individuals shared this view. Conversely, only 5% of Democrats thought the tariffs were good for the country, while 44% of Republicans supported the tariffs.

When respondents were asked whether tariffs would benefit them personally, regardless of party affiliation, the majority still believed it would have a negative impact. Overall, 53% of respondents said that taxing Chinese goods was detrimental to them personally. Seventy-five percent of Democrats held this view, and 30% of Republicans also believed it would harm their personal interests.

Among Republicans, there were age-related differences in perceptions of tariffs. Whether at the national level or personal level, Republicans under 50 were more likely to hold negative views of tariffs compared to those over 50.

Pew Research Center

Laura Silver, deputy director of the Pew Research Center, said that compared to their 2021 inquiry into how Americans viewed tariffs on Chinese imports, respondents this time felt that tariffs would cause harm both individually and nationally.

In February 2021, shortly after the end of Trump's first term, the Pew Research Center found that 30% of Americans believed tariffs would harm them personally, and 44% thought they would damage national interests. This time, perceptions at the national and individual levels were almost identical: 53% and 52%, respectively.

The South China Morning Post found on April 9 that compared to surveys conducted earlier this year by other institutions, fewer people supported taxing Chinese goods in the Pew Research Center's findings. Jack Zhang, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, analyzed this for the newspaper, predicting that opposition to tariff increases on China would grow stronger. He noted that China's response to the first two rounds of 10% tariffs was "relatively mild," but "a full 34% response is quite formidable."

Now, more and more Republicans, entrepreneurs, and billionaire donors who previously supported Trump are speaking out against his broad imposition of tariffs. On the same day Trump announced comprehensive "reciprocal tariffs," four Republican senators voted with Democrats to pass a resolution blocking tariffs on Canada. The next day, Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa, proposed a bill to limit Trump's ability to impose tariffs without congressional approval, which has gained support from at least seven Republicans.

However, the South China Morning Post warned that this does not mean a softening of the U.S. stance toward China. Recent polls by the Pew Research Center found that the vast majority of Americans hold negative views of China. Silver noted that when discussing tariff issues, Americans consider more than just the U.S. trade deficit with China; many factors shape their perceptions of bilateral relations.

USA Today reported on April 8 that this survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted nearly three months into Trump's second term, was the first attempt to explore how Americans view his foreign policy. In addition to tariffs, a key foreign policy issue, the agency also asked Americans about their views on Trump withdrawing the U.S. from international agreements, relations with Russia and Israel under his leadership, and his comments about taking over foreign territories.

The newspaper noted from the Pew Research Center's survey that most Americans held uncertain or negative views of Trump's efforts to overturn traditional U.S. foreign policies.

This article is an exclusive piece by the Observer Network and cannot be reprinted without permission.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7491131141593629220/

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