The American-Chinese trade relations are becoming part of the election campaign in the United States. In November, President Trump hopes to be re-elected for his second term and will likely face Democratic Senator Joe Biden.
Biden said in a TV interview that Trump is approaching China in the wrong way, and that his one-man trade war against China has damaged American agriculture and food production. He stated that he would not continue the tariffs on Chinese products introduced by Trump. Shortly after taking office, President Trump said he would force Beijing to comply with deals that would primarily be good for the United States.
Before the outbreak of this trade war, China was the largest customer of American agricultural exports, purchasing an average of $21 billion worth of products annually. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that exports to China will amount to at most $13 billion this fiscal year.
Last year, President Trump presented a “phase one” trade agreement he had drafted, under which China would purchase $36.6 billion worth of American food, agricultural, and fish products this year. By June, Beijing had imported only $8.7 billion worth of goods.
China is lagging behind in purchases of manufactured goods, energy, and services, as well as in exports of food and agricultural products. There has been no discussion yet about a “phase two” agreement because trade relations between the countries have become highly contentious.
“Our food production is in a recession. Agriculture lost billions of dollars which the taxpayer had to cover,” Biden said. “We are going after China the wrong way.” Biden stated that China will only reform its trade policy if there is a broad international coalition calling on Beijing to follow the world trade rules.
Biden believes that the US should work together with the EU within the WTO to make trade agreements. Biden’s campaign said he “can tackle China by negotiating together with our allies from the strongest possible position.”