Similarly, Trump’s standing tariffs on Southeast Asian countries, which were also a major strategic regional priority during the Biden administration, could push those countries close to China. The Chinese state media announced on April 11 that President Xi Jinping would pay the state’s visit to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia from 14-18 April, which would aim to deepen “all-round cooperation” with neighboring countries.
In particular, all three South-East Asian countries were now targeted by the Trump administration with a mutual tariff-49 percent on Ambodian goods, 46 percent on Vietnamese exports and 24 percent on Malaysia’s products.
There is an even more promising strategic opportunity away from China. Trump’s tariff strategy has already inspired China and European Union officials to think to strengthen their own already stressful trade relations, something that may weaken the transatlantic alliance seeking to disintegrate from China.
On 8 April, the Chairman of the European Commission made a call with the head of China, during which both sides jointly condemned American trade protectionism and advocated free and open trade. Incidentally, on 9 April, the day China extended the tariff to 84 percent on American goods, the European Union also applied its first wave of retaliation for more than € 20 billion to 25 percent of tariffs on US imports-but the implementation was delayed after Trump’s 90-day stagnation.
Now, the European Union and Chinese officials are negotiating existing trade barriers and considering a full summit in China in July.
Finally, China sees a possible weakness of the US dollar standing in Trump’s tariff policy. The extensive tariffs imposed on many countries have confidently confidently in the US economy, which contributes to the dollar price fall.
Traditionally, dollars and US Treasury Bonds have been seen as haven assets, but recently the market turmoil has suspected that situation. At the same time, standing tariffs have expressed concern about the health of the American economy and its debt stability, which reduces confidence in both dollars and American Treasury.
While Trump’s tariffs essentially hurt parts of the Chinese economy, Beijing has more cards to play at this time. It has equipment to do meaningful damage to American interests-and perhaps even more importantly, Trump’s all-out tariff war is providing China a rare and unprecedented strategic opportunity.
(The author is a PhD candidate at the University of Political Science, Obern. This article was originally published on a conversation under a Creative Commons License. Read the original article here.,
