The United States of America does TONS of trade with China….
How much of stuff in your house was ‘made in China’?
Ok?
Then WTF is that country flexing on possibly ‘taking Taiwan back’?
WTF are they sending spy balloons over America with Trump gone?
Does the countries leaders have control over its military?
Or?
Does the Chinese leaders think they will push America from the top power on the planet by using their military and economic manufacturing might?
Any crazy military move could ‘force’ Biden to REALLY impose limits on China/US Trade which would criple China’s economy…..The countries DO need each other…..
Chinese leader Xi Jinping began his third term by modulating the aggressive tone that had become a hallmark of Beijing’s interactions with Western democracies in recent years. That newfound pragmatism is already under pressure. The Chinese Foreign Ministry swung rapidly from expressing regret to issuing threats — from an almost apology for what it said was a weather balloon accidentally blown off course to protesting the U.S. response as a “violation of international practice” worthy of potential reprisals.
In that highly charged environment, Chinese experts are not hopeful that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing, postponed due to the balloon saga, will be revived soon….
US/ China trade…
U.S.-China relations have reached a low point after a Chinese spy balloon was discovered — and shot down — over U.S. territory last week, but trade between the world’s two leading economies just hit an all-time high.
According to numbers released Tuesday by the Commerce Department, two-way trade between the United States and China set a new record in 2022 — $690 billion — part of a surge in U.S. trade with partners around the world last year.
The U.S. had record imports from 90 countries in 2022, led by Mexico, Canada and Japan.
While some of the increase in last year’s trade figures may be a result of historic levels of inflation, the figures remain eye opening, particularly considering the years-long U.S. tariff campaign on Chinese imports and new efforts to stop the flow of U.S. tech to Beijing. And they demonstrate just how intertwined the U.S. and China remain, commercially at least, despite efforts to effectively “decouple” their economies….
…
Trump justified a number of his trade actions in the name of national security, a trend that has continued during the Biden administration, especially in the form of export controls aimed at keeping the most sensitive U.S. technology away from China’s military.
That reflects concern over Chinese President Xi Jinping’s goal of reuniting China and Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing has long viewed as part of its territory and whose strategic position would help the Chinese military dominate the region.
Still, despite talk of “decoupling” from China, U.S. imports of Chinese goods increased to $538.8 billion in 2022, only slightly less than the record set in 2018. The U.S. also exported a record $153.8 billion worth of goods to China last year.
The gap between exports and imports in trade with China was $382.9 billion in 2022, which was also the second bilateral trade deficit highest on record….
…
“You can see some shifting of sourcing — a little bit less from China and somewhat more from some other sources,” Gresser said. “But you haven’t seen that show up as the U.S. trading less than it used to be. In dollar terms, we’re trading more than we did in the past.”….
Republicans on China post ballon caper….
It took one missile to pop China’s balloon. Now House Republicans are setting up a 17-bill barrage to isolate its economy and financial system.
The suite of anti-China legislation will be the focus Tuesday at the House Financial Services Committee’s first hearing of the year — underlining the issue’s importance for the GOP conference. It’s also the panel’s first hearing under new Chair Patrick McHenry.
Among the proposals: Imposing sanctions on companies tied to China’s military, admitting Taiwan to the IMF, banning use of the digital yuan by U.S. money services businesses and requiring Treasury to report on risks from the Chinese financial sector.
The experts McHenry lined up for the hearing include former White House, Treasury and Commerce officials. They will outline ways to counter China and make the case for balancing policies so they don’t backfire on the U.S. economy.
Clete Willems, former President Donald Trump’s sherpa to the G-7 and G-20, will tell the committee that it’s critical for the U.S. to play both defense to protect national security, with measures like outbound investment restrictions, while also going on offense to reduce reliance on Chinese supply chains and to open new markets for U.S. firms.
“At the same time as the United States is cutting off capital and technology, we must also be creating new opportunities for U.S. companies affected by these measures,” Willems said in prepared testimony….
Note….
Trump non-knowledge angle has given Biden slack from GOPer’s who are turning to China as the political target…..