US President Donald TrumpAccording to the former national security advisor, John Bolton, China's movements to trade can go back because his wide global tariffs hit allies and rivals.
“It is certainly not the way you treat your friends. You don't hit them in public and say that I do not intend to value you, unless you do it better in commercial negotiations,” said Dan Murphy from CNBC on Monday.
“In fact, one country that really deserves a trade war – China – we put them in a much better position strategically, going to the war with tariffs with our best friends, while we would all connect together, maybe they would affect China's behavior. So this is not just an economic mistake, which, I think, it is a strategic wake, which will cost a strategic. United, if it is not again.
The White House spokesman was not immediately available to answer when he contacted CNBC.
Trump sent global markets to chaos on April 2, which he called “Liberation Day”, revealing tariffs in almost every country and territory based on calculations that economists criticized as senseless. The limited 10% Tarrif on goods was imported all over the world, while many countries have faced much larger fees based on the US sales deficit – Trump traffic described as “mutual”, despite the fact that the record is not associated with tariffs.
Within a few days, in which market chaos, a trillion of dollars of wealth removed and an increase in the profitability of the US Treasury, Trump announced a 90-day pause on larger tariffs, but maintained a total measure of 10% in all countries, including the closest allies in Washington, as well as the previous 25% of tariffs imposed on Mexico and Canada. Then he increased the fees to China, which have already responded with their own tariffs to American goods.
Former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, speaks to reporters after a speech in the panel organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran-American representative position (NCRI-US) at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel on August 17, 2022 in Washington.
Anna Moneymaker Getty images
The two largest economies in the world escalated tutor fees. China vowed to “fight to the end”; The Trump administration has recently announced an exemption for electronics in China, including smartphones.
Bolton agreed with Trump's conviction that China should be considered what he described as unfair practices and commercial violations, including theft of intellectual property, protecting and subsidizing some industries in order to create unfair competition and “manipulate the organization of world trade.”
“If you want to deal with this problem, it would certainly mean to meet with Japan, Korea, Singapore, other Asian countries, European countries, others around the world who were victims of China in the same way,” Bolton said.
“Instead, we have a war with our friends and we really mutilate our ability to cope with China effectively.”
XI on offensive charm
International leaders criticized Trump's actions. On Tuesday, French Prime Minister François Bayrou said that “the President of the United States began a hurricane”, which destroyed trust around the world, according to Reuters's translation.
On Monday, the Chinese Prime Minister XI Jinping began what some observers call offensive charm by Southeast Asia, visiting Vietnam for the first time, and then planned trips to Malaysia and Cambodia.
“Xi Jinping is trying to build allies,” said Bolton. “If Trump had any sense, he would do the same;
The Chinese leader “will not stop in Southeast Asia,” said Bolton. “We know that even before the tariffs began to impose … his people talked to South Korea and Japan to have a common front against American tariffs. It's just madness from the American point of view that we would even let it do it.”