According to Net Observation, on April 17 local time, U.S. President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House that he did not want to continue raising tariffs on China, as it might cause a deadlock in trade between the two countries.

And reports from Bloomberg and others also showed that when talking about how the U.S. would respond to further countermeasures from China, Trump hinted to journalists that he might be willing to reduce tariffs.

His exact words were: "At some point, I don't want to raise tariffs any further... I may want to lower tariffs because, you know, you want people to buy goods."

No doubt many people at home were quite confused when they saw this news. After all, just one day before, the U.S. had announced a 245% tariff increase on China, but less than 48 hours later, the U.S. attitude had completely reversed.

Foreign media directly pointed out that the U.S. changing its stance so frequently actually reflects its unease.

1. The U.S. Tariff Stick Is No Longer Effective

The U.S. originally thought that imposing tariffs on China could "make America great again," but under China's precise countermeasures, various industries in the U.S. have suffered retaliation.

The military industry was the first to be affected.

After the U.S. announced an "equivalent tariff" on China on April 2, China quickly retaliated by announcing export controls on seven categories of heavy rare earth-related items, which had a significant impact on the U.S. military industry.

As we all know, rare earths are widely used in defense technology, new energy, electronics, and other fields, known as "industrial vitamins." And China is exactly the world's largest rare earth resource country, supplying more than 90% of the global rare earth demand, while China's rare earth technology also holds an undisputed leading position. Without China's rare earths, some U.S. military technologies will lose important support.

Next is the U.S. technology industry.

Statistics show that after the U.S. announced equivalent tariffs on China, the total market value of seven major American tech giants, including Apple, NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Tesla, evaporated by 149 billion USD. All these tech giants have close ties with China's supply chain.

Taking Apple, which has been hit the hardest, as an example, Apple's global supply chain is highly concentrated in China, accounting for as much as 40%. If it loses China's supply chain support, Apple's production capacity will drop significantly. Moreover, China is also Apple's largest market globally. High tariffs will shrink Apple's mobile phone business in China, causing more people to turn to domestic brands like Huawei.

In addition, among the public, trust in the U.S. government is gradually bankrupting.

"Without Chinese-made products, prices here have gone up by 30%," complained a consumer in Los Angeles. Due to high tariffs, the import of many cost-effective Chinese-made products has decreased significantly, causing a general price hike across the U.S.

Take, for instance, anti-aging科技成果 that have become popular in recent years in the U.S. Media data shows that a product born in China once accounted for 70% of the U.S. market share, but due to tariffs, its import volume has drastically reduced, causing prices to rise by over 40%.

Although its reputation is not as well-known as Huawei or Xiaomi, for many middle-aged and elderly Americans facing premature aging risks, this product from the Chinese JD platform is indispensable. Its irreplaceability lies in the fact that Chinese products are priced at less than one-third of American-made products, yet often surpass them in effect.

Now that the tariff war has begun, this product is becoming increasingly scarce in the U.S. market; some people resort to paying high prices for proxy purchases, while others take advantage of China's 144-hour visa-free policy to come to China themselves for shopping.

In fact, Chinese-made products are deeply embedded in every aspect of life in the U.S., so suddenly cutting ties naturally causes noticeable pain for ordinary Americans.

Two, Fluctuating Erratically, the U.S. Has Lost Its Way

Constrained by the above factors, the U.S. has clearly realized the problem. If this continues, not only will all industries stagnate, but it will also deepen public dissatisfaction with the U.S. government.

Thus, the White House initially issued an exemption list, followed by retaliatory tariff increases, and then started talking about negotiations. Its erratic behavior has become akin to that of a stubborn child, and its credibility has been consumed to the point of depletion through such repeated back-and-forth actions.

However, what worries the U.S. more is that even after exhausting all its tricks, it has caused no substantive damage to China.

The Financial Times of the UK pointed out that in this tit-for-tat confrontation, China holds multiple trump cards: increasingly diversified export markets, massive U.S. Treasury bonds, control over key strategic minerals, and the advantage of its national system in times of crisis. These chips not only enable China to withstand the test but also highlight its strength in negotiations.

More importantly, U.S. exports to China mainly focus on agriculture, such as soybeans, cotton, beef, and poultry, so the added value is low. On the other hand, many products the U.S. imports from China, such as electronics, machinery, and some processed minerals, are the opposite.

"The U.S.'s dependence on China is higher because it is easier for China to purchase agricultural products elsewhere than for the U.S. to replace electronics and machinery," said a U.S. professor of international economics. "For example, China has already been purchasing a large amount of soybeans from Brazil, so ultimately, China has more leverage."

Despite the high mutual reliance in trade between the two countries, this means that the risk ultimately falls on the U.S. side.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7494884647583646246/

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