President Trump is right to call China’s bluff — the communist regime simply can’t compete with the booming U.S. economy, and Beijing knows it.
In a recent announcement, the president slammed China for stalling ongoing trade negotiations, threatening to hike existing tariffs at the end of the week if Chinese negotiators do not stop stonewalling the historic trade deal that the two countries have been working on for months.
“For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50 Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods,” he explained in a tweet. “These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results.”
Unless China shows signs of good faith before Friday, not only will the 10 percent tariffs be raised to 25 percent, but the Trump administration will also begin the process of imposing 25 percent tariffs on the remaining $325 billion in Chinese imports that have heretofore remained untaxed.
Predictably, this declaration will trigger a wave of hand-wringing among the president’s critics — especially those who had warned that a “trade war” with China would significantly harm our economy — but in reality there’s little cause for alarm.
Donald Trump’s political opponents and the mainstream press have attacked his stance on tariffs for more than two years, arguing that the protectionist policy will have a detrimental effect on economic growth and development.
All of these predictions were wrong, and the latest economic figures prove it.
Indeed, contrary to the doomsday warnings of President Trump’s critics, U.S. GDP grew by 3.2 percent in the First Quarter of this year, and the unemployment rate dropped to a 50-year low of 3.6 percent.
Notably, both of those significantly outperformed projections from the so-called “experts,” who only expected GDP growth of around 2 percent and a 3.8 percent rate of unemployment.
In contrast to America’s stellar economic performance, even The New York Times was forced to admit that President Trump’s tariff threat “poses problems for China,” which is still trying to navigate its way out of an economic slump that has been exacerbated by the existing Trump tariffs.
“The Tariffs paid to the USA have had little impact on product cost, mostly borne by China,” the President tweeted, anticipating the inevitable attack on his trade policy. “The Trade Deal with China continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!”
Early stock market reactions to the presidential tweet threatening new tariffs seem to justify Trump’s optimism. While U.S. markets dipped by 1-2 percent in pre-market trading, China’s markets fell by nearly 6 percent, showing that China has far more to lose from an escalation of the trade tiff than we do.
Empowered with the proof that his economic agenda based on tax cuts, deregulation, tougher trade deals, and propelling American energy production is delivering a huge economic boom for all Americans, President Trump is prepared to see his gutsy China trade strategy all the way through to a successful conclusion.
The resilient and expanding U.S. economy — and the correspondingly fragile Chinese economy — provided President Trump with a golden opportunity to push back against Beijing’s shameful attempt to stall the ongoing trade negotiations.
Naturally, President Trump always follows through on his promises — in this case to apply new and more aggressive tariffs on China. America will be the better for President Trump’s economic and trade leadership yet again.
As New York City’s 40th Police Commissioner, Bernard Kerik was in command of the NYPD on September 11, 2001, and responsible for the city’s response, rescue, recovery, and the investigative efforts of the most substantial terror attack in world history. His 35-year career has been recognized in more than 100 awards for meritorious and heroic service, including a presidential commendation for heroism by President Ronald Reagan, two Distinguished Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and an appointment as Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.