Trump has been in office as the President of the U.S. for his second term for only two months, he has made numerous political moves, both in domestic policies and in international policies. I don’t think many of these policies are well thought out or follow a certain theoretical framework. His policies, besides reflecting on the characteristics of Trump as a self-centered person whose primary interest is himself, his wealth and reputation, and a narrow view on what is good for the U.S., I don’t think that these policies reflect a well-thought-out domestic or international policy, so when these policies receive critical reviews, Trump would backtrack. Nevertheless, I think politically Trump is very much against China, so his policies always reflect a policy that is critical of China and takes measures that impede the natural growth of China and the accompanying growth of the rest of the world.
This is clear from many perspectives. From his cabinet members who are always been severe critics of China, such as Secretary of State Mario Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Although he advocates the Monroe Doctrine that other countries should not have any significant involvement in North America, or even Central America or South America, he is intimately involved in forming alliances in Asia, far from the U.S.’s home base in North America. This includes forming military alliances such as with Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Australia. One also cannot just take his words for granted. One must see what he is doing with his actions. Even though on the surface he seems to be friends to Putin of Russia, but that may be part of his strategy to create more differences between Russia and China, to split Russia and China, to avoid having to face both Russia and China when conflicts arise.
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Update on Perspective on US-China Relationship
However, there are also tariffs that the Trump administration will impose on China (and tariffs during his previous term as the U.S. President). As the matter of fact, the Biden administration already has imposed many tariffs (including those from the first President Trump) on China. China has also purchased large amounts of certain agricultural products from countries like Brazil. (See, e.g., Ref. 1) China has also taken certain counter measures, such as forbidding or restricting trade of certain rare earth elements to the U.S. (see, e.g, Ref. 2). Some of these rare earth elements have military and technology applications.
Recently I also just read an article in the Foreign Times (Ref. 3) that “by tying subsidies to technology transfers and local production requirements, Brussels ensures that Chinese companies contribute to the EU’s industrial base rather than merely exporting batteries. This approach mirrors other global trade practices, The US Inflation Reduction Act, for example, ties clean energy subsidies to domestic content. Tariffs, by contrast, have done little to achieve their intended goals. Whether the U. S. will do something similar to Belgium, we will have to wait and see.
As to the U.S.’s heavy tariffs on Chinese made automobiles, especially on those automobiles which plan to meet modern emission restrictions, I don’t see how the U.S. without a change on its current position is going to solve the problem, because it is essentially China who is producing such vehicles. Either the U.S. is not going to meet these emission standards or the U.S. is going to drop such tariffs. We will just have to see how the future will evolve in front of our eyes.
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