According to Gordon Chang, the United States knew for decades that China was stealing its intellectual property, and even 25 % of Trump's tariffs could not stop it, making it more bold this time.
From the favorable commercial situation to the forced technology transfers, Beijing used American goodwill, access to the market and the greed of companies to become Washington's most strategic competitor.
At the end of the century, the United States gave up its market mastery over critical minerals, began to report extensively Chinese goods And exporting intellectual property to access Chinese markets – all while the Chinese Communist Party became the biggest enemy of America.
“The Chinese have been predatory, and they were engaged in criminal actions, theft of US intellectual property, but the story is not China here,” said Gordon Chang, a Chinese expert and Gatton Institute. “The story here is that we allow them to cope with it. We knew what was going on. We have known it for decades, and we never really did an effective way to stop it.”
Here five times a look at US industry and policymakers has manipulated in a more favorable economic situation:
US allies are selected for trade transactions during a 90 -day -old pause
President Bill Clinton and China Prime Minister Zhou Rongji speak at a WTO talks at the White House on April 8, 1999. (Reuters)
Favorite status of Nation (
During the 1990s, China was offensive to normalize business relations – and found a key ally in President Bill Clinton. By 2000, the Congress grant China's regular permanent trade relations and paved the way for its entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001.
At that time, China was the sixth largest economy in the world, with a population of one billion. This contrast was clearly clear when it kept the Communist system largely closed from global markets.
And while China had previously been recognized for human rights abuses and the government's heavy control over its economy, these vague promises of reform and cooperation – promises that helped win the United States in the United States.
The United States hoped that China's entry into the WTO would examine its Communist government and accelerate its change to the market economy. By joining, China should reduce tariffs to protect intellectual property rights.
Clinton was not only believed that trade with China also exports Western values. “No nation on earth has discovered a way to import world goods and services while stopping foreign ideas at the border,” his president, George Ho Bush, said.
WTO accession in China and the country's favorite situation have opened the floods to low -cost Chinese goods. Imports to the United States rose from $ 102.3 billion in 2001 to $ 426.9 billion in 2023. US Economic Intelligence OfficeHuman
On the other hand, China imported about $ 26 billion in US goods in 2001. Chinese customs DataWith According to the United States, compared to $ 147.8 billion in US exports to China in 2023 Import dataHuman
In the 1990s, the Congress increased the Astana De Minimis to $ 200 for imports – and in 2016 it reached $ 800 again. According to this rule, the goods below the threshold can be imported without paying for official costs without formal customs, a system that is of low value cargo, but since it is widely exploited by Chinese e -commerce sellers. President Donald Trump recently closed a hole to eliminate the threshold of Chinese goods that allowed billions of dollars in unauthorized imports to flow the US market.
Trump's tariff gambling was tested while China is strangled by critical minerals
China, like minerals in this lithium smelter, is broken on critical minerals. (Reuters/Employees/Photo File)
Rare mastery of the metal as a pressure tool (2010 – preview)
Recently in the 1980s, the United States was the main actor in the rare landmine industry, but the price increase led to the Pass Mine Mountain flagship California To closing in 2000.
China, with cheap labor, environmental regulations, almost not only and the government's cash flow, now controls more than 80 % of the rare land mineral market, which is very important for electronics, defense systems and green energy.
In 2010, China cut off Japan's access to the mineral market in a diplomatic interpretation of a fishing trolller and territorial disputes. While it does not directly affect the United States, the move provoke Washington by proving that China is willing to use its dominance over the strategic market. The business negotiations on technology and minerals have aroused serious concerns about the US dependence on the Chinese mineral market, which has not yet been fully addressed today.
The incident changed China in American mind – not only as a business partner but as a strategic rival. This also created wider cooperation between the United States and its Indian and Oceanic allies.
Since 2023, China has been creating more suppression of mineral exports aimed at damaging the United States, limiting access to gallium, germhenium, antimony, graphite, tungsten and more.
The Obama, Biden and Trump governments have all moved to prioritize the mining of rare domestic land, but the process of licensing and environmental regulations means that domestic projects can take decades to get out of the land.
President Donald Trump, left, shook Shi Jinping at a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. (AP)
Trump's first trade war (2018-2019)
In March 2018, President Trump began a long trade war with China and accused Beijing of “tearing” the United States and stealing intellectual property. He began with national security concerns by imposing 25 % global tariffs on steel and 10 % in aluminum under Section 232.
China retaliated with $ 3 billion in US exports such as fruit, wine and pork.
Then, in April, the US trade representative cited $ 50 billion in Chinese goods for tariffs under paragraph 301, citing IP theft and technology transfer.
China responded to soybean, car and aircraft tariffs, and Trump offered collateral for the agricultural industry under the pressure of damaged farmers.
The trade war increased, and Trump showed 25 % of the tariff for hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese goods-and Beijing in response-when tensions decreased in 2020.
In January 2020, Trump and XI signed a “Phase One” trade deal in which China agreed to raise $ 32 billion in agricultural purchases within two years, buy more energy and improve manufacturing goods and protect the IP and halt forced technology transfers. The United States, in turn, agreed to suspend new tariffs and bring back some of the existing items back.
China then doubled in its “built -in China 2025” strategy and increased its confidence in key sectors such as technology and agriculture. Beijing's central bank imported any economic fall to the cushion.
Protesters in support of the general manager of the Rockets Housteon Rockets NBA team, Daryl Murray, who sent the voice of Jir Jir, with the support of the pro -democracy movement, collecting China to broadcast NBA Janak (Reuters/Ayat Becta)
Pressure on US companies to censor or support Beijing positions
China has long used its widespread market leverage to force American jobs to adapt – adding indirect pressure to US policy discussions.
Chinese actors have pushed various American companies – NikeMeta, Disney and NBA – for the line to Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Uyghur abuse in Sin Kiang Province or the risk of losing access to the market.
In 2019, China in Nba After the Houston Rocket Director General tweeted support for pro -democracy protests in Hong Kong. Beijing quickly suspended the NBA broadcast and completely cut off relationships with the missiles.
One former Meta employee Sarah Wynn-Williams, Sarah Wynn-Williams, Sarah Wynn-Williams, has become Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of custom censorship tools to deliver China in hopes of accessing its fully controlled internet market. A spokesman for Meta has called Wynn-Williams “divorce from reality” and incorrectly.
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Technical license and IP transfer to enter markets
China often requires technical transfer or joint venture as a price for business domestic trade and uses access to the market to achieve intellectual property.
US companies, hungry for Chinese consumers. But these demands, while undermining the United States' innovation and the IP competition, gave China a lot of economic benefits.
These practices were the reasons for the research of Section 301 Trump, which began for the first time in the first period and led to tariffs.
According to a 2018 US Trade Representative Office, US US robbery costs between $ 225 and $ 600 billion annually.