Trump Administration Gets Tougher with China Trade Policies

These policies, in particular, have helped to propel China as a global leader in the technology space. In the past, the U.S. has rarely imposed sanctions or penalties. 

 

“A source familiar with the U.S. discussions said the Trump administration planned to employ Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows Washington to investigate China’s trade practices and, within months, raise tariffs on imports from China, or impose other sanctions,” writes Fox News. “Section 301 was used frequently in the 1980s to combat Japanese imports of steel, motorcycles and other items, but less frequently after the World Trade Organization was founded in 1995, Reuters reported.” 

 

But now, the government is planning to launch a new investigation or probe on China about its alleged “forced technology transfer policies and practices.” 

“For 14 years, American beef producers have been trying to get their product into China on an unfettered basis. In less than 100 days, we got it in. And that first beef will literally be leaving in about 10 days. The same is true for some other things. Those were the easier deliverables. We’re now working on another list. We generally have two conference calls a day, one early in the morning our time and one late at night with the Chinese. That’s five, six, seven days a week,” said Ross to The Wall Street Journal. “The whole fabric of these discussions is different from prior ones. We aren’t interested in great long-winded debates and big ceremonial meetings and big proclamations that have no teeth. We’re interested in very specific, very tangible achievements. And we’re finding a very, very sensible give-and-take with the Chinese right now.”

Officials have yet to announce that they will be imposing more penalties with or without the World Trade Organization. 

Editor’s note: China uses its open markets to steal ideas from the U.S. and starts manufacturing the same thing. Earlier this month, billionaire business magnate Guo Wengui exposed China for “offensive spying” on military technology, in particular. The U.S. companies stay in the game because of the competition, but they’re not just competing with other U.S. companies. French, German, and Japanese companies are also competing and they may be willing to take the risk of revealing their technology. The French government was once caught using their intelligence services to break into a U.S. businessman’s hotel to steal his negotiating strategies on a bid for a nuclear power plant. China’s technology boom is largely based on stolen secrets. Their intelligence apparatus in the U.S. is vast and aims at businesses, not government.