General

The current development of Sino-US economic and trade relations has attracted attention. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen (Janet Yellen) made a new statement, saying that he might consider eventually reducing some tariffs in a "reciprocal way."

According to a Reuters report on November 1, Yellen said in an interview with the agency a few days ago that tariffs tend to push up domestic prices and increase costs for consumers and companies, such as aluminum and steel. This means that lowering tariffs will produce The effect of "suppressing domestic inflation in the United States." Over the past few months, the domestic supply chain has been disrupted, prices have soared, commodity shortages, and inflation have continued to intensify.

On October 30, local time, the U.S. government just reached an agreement with the European Union to cancel some of the tariffs Trump imposed on European steel and aluminum three years ago, and said that this will reduce the costs of American manufacturers and consumer spending. .

Regarding Yellen’s speech, Shen Yi, a professor in the Department of International Politics at Fudan University, believed that the United States urgently needs China’s cooperation on many current issues, but while making concessions, it still hopes to use a kind of "maintain America's face." Way to express words. However, the downturn in Sino-US relations is all caused by the unilateral destruction of the US. If the US wants to cooperate, it must first change a series of wrong policies toward China, and China should maintain its "strategic determination" and "listen to what it says and watch what it does." .

Screenshot of Reuters report

According to reports, Yellen and some other government officials insist that the current price surge in the United States is the result of a supply chain crisis and rising energy prices, but they judge that inflation should be eased in the second half of 2020.

When asked by Reuters, "Whether adjusting tariffs on Chinese goods will help ease inflationary pressures," Yellen said, "This is generally the case."

"Our trade representative (Dai Qi) has stated that we will consider further reduction of tariffs." Yellen said: "We hope to see China fulfill its promises, but stabilize and eventually reduce some tariffs in a mutually beneficial manner, which may be an ideal result."

Data map: U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen's self-surging image

In fact, the US supply chain crisis has intensified in the past few months. Port congestion, insufficient capacity, stagnant cargo ships, supply chains and logistics systems collapsed. Containers in the port are piled up like mountains, but shelves in many retail stores are empty. The supply chain crisis is like the overthrow of dominoes. One link affects the next. The shortage of commodity supply, price increases, purchase restrictions and delays plague American consumers and enterprises, and the economic operation has suffered an unprecedented severe impact.

According to data released by the US Department of Labor on October 13, the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% month-on-month in September, which was higher than the previous value and the expected 0.3%. On a year-on-year basis, the unadjusted CPI rose by 5.4% in September, a slight rebound from the 5.3% in August, but it was the same as in June and July, the highest level since 2008.

Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan (Alan Greenspan) believes that the US inflation rate faces the continuing risk of a significant rise. The accumulation of government debt and other deep pressures may keep the inflation rate high for a long time.

Reuters reported that the Chinese side has repeatedly urged the Biden administration to cancel the additional tariffs imposed on China during the predecessor Trump’s administration, while US government officials have resumed the "exemption procedure", which may result in the abolition of some tariffs. But so far, the US has not considered a wider range of tariff cuts.

According to the U.S. media "Politician" News Network (Politico) on October 29, local time, citing two people familiar with the matter, the Biden administration currently has inconsistent opinions in the area of Sino-US trade.

Jake Sullivan, assistant to the US President’s National Security Affairs, wants the government to announce an increase in tariffs on products in some key industries in China, while reducing penalties for thousands of other commodities; but Katherine Tai, the US Trade Representative, hopes Don't act so fast. Give China time for trade negotiations.

At the same time, it is reported that the White House will also seek to reduce tariffs or provide exemptions to provide tariff reductions or exemptions for companies that are not "China's most favorable industries." Sullivan and some other government officials claimed that this would allow the United States to "punish improper trade practices" while reducing the burden on some US companies that have been hit by trade frictions. To this end, the White House has restarted the process of exempting more than 500 Chinese products from tariffs.

For Yellen's speech on tariff policy during the interview, Shen Yi, a professor in the Department of International Politics at Fudan University, immediately interpreted and analyzed it.

He believes that from a practical perspective, the United States clearly wants China's cooperation in terms of trade policy (tariffs), macro-financial policies (US debt, US dollar issuance), and climate issues that Kerry is responsible for. However, in the original cooperation on these issues, China and the United States had a set of mature and stable cooperation mechanisms, but during the Trump administration, these cooperation mechanisms were basically undermined by the United States.

As stated by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi when he met with US Secretary of State Blincoln in Rome on October 31, local time, in recent years, China-US relations have suffered a full blow due to the US's wrong China policy.

Shen Yi believes that from the overall strategic situation, China is currently in a relatively active position. At this time, if the United States sends out a signal that it wants to stabilize, it can be understood that while the United States is making concessions, it still hopes to use a kind of "maintenance". "American face" is used to express discourse.

"China must maintain the so-called'strategic determination', which means'listen to what it says and watch what it does.'" Shen Yi said that with regard to Sino-US relations, the US must be clear that Sino-US cooperation needs to be in a "cooperative atmosphere". Under the conditions. Based on the content of the talks between Wang Yi and Brinken, he pointed out that, including tariff issues, if the US wants to return to the atmosphere of cooperation, the current Congress has introduced more than 300 anti-China bills and included more than 900 Chinese entities and individuals in various A list of unilateral sanctions and a global “anti-China small circle” must be adjusted and changed accordingly.

Shen Yi concluded that the U.S. must first change its series of wrong policies toward China and push Sino-U.S. relations back to the track of healthy development as soon as possible, so that China-U.S. cooperation can proceed in an orderly manner.

Reuters also introduced that on October 30, local time, US President Biden, who was attending the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Rome, Italy, reached an agreement with EU officials to cancel Trump’s three-year agreement with European steel and aluminum. Part of the tariffs imposed, and said that this will help ease the price pressure faced by some US manufacturers.

White House National Security Adviser Sullivan declared that the tariff agreement “removed one of the biggest “stubborn ties” in the bilateral relationship between the United States and Europe.” US Trade Representative Dai Qi told reporters that the agreement “strengthened the regulatory system to prevent China and other “unjustified ties”. "Competitive steel and aluminum enter the US market." However, some experts say that this measure came too late, and the high prices of many commodities have disrupted the US economy, which is frustrating.

According to news from Xinhua News Agency on October 26, Liu He, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, and the Chinese leader of the China-US Comprehensive Economic Dialogue, held a video call with US Treasury Secretary Yellen at the appointment. The two sides conducted pragmatic, candid and constructive exchanges on the macroeconomic situation and cooperation in multilateral and bilateral fields. Both sides believe that the recovery of the world economy is at a critical juncture, and it is very important for China and the United States to strengthen communication and coordination of macroeconomic policies. China has expressed its concern about the US's cancellation of additional tariffs and sanctions and fair treatment of Chinese companies. The two parties agreed to continue to communicate.