Despite Trump's tariff hikes, the U.S. trade deficit with Asia continues to grow!
On January 30, AFP reported: "In the first 11 months of last year, although Trump's tariff policy reduced the U.S.-China trade deficit by $80.9 billion, it was offset by increased imports from Southeast Asia, expanding the U.S. trade deficit with Asia by 10% to $77.8 billion. Chinese companies are using Southeast Asia as a transit point to profit from exports, reducing China's share of the U.S. trade deficit with Asia from 66% in 2017 to 25%. Moreover, the tariffs have not significantly brought manufacturing back to the U.S., and imports may be rebounding."
[Smart] The failure of Trump's tariff policy is an inevitable collapse of unilateral trade protectionism, and a powerful counterattack of the global supply chain. From the transfer of the trade deficit during the first round of the U.S.-China trade war in 2017, to the current high tariff of 47.5% on China, which still failed to stop the influx of Asian goods, the expansion of the U.S. trade deficit with Asia to $77.8 billion proves that tariffs only reallocate trade flows, rather than truly reduce the deficit. Under the "China + 1" strategy, the use of Southeast Asia as a transit hub has made the U.S. trade blockade a futile effort. The failure of manufacturing to return to the U.S. further exposes structural problems in the U.S. economy. The hollowing out of domestic industries under the privilege of the dollar currency is not something that can be reversed by a tariff stick. This self-deceiving trade game will ultimately leave the U.S. trapped in a double quagmire of trade deficits and industrial stagnation.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1855738262551828/
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