Tag: Protectionism (Trade)

Europe Is Edging Closer to a Trade War With China. Here’s Why.

Media Library

Kaja Kallas, the top European Union diplomat, recently suggested that ending the continent’s dependence on China was like trying to cure a disease. “Chemotherapy” might be needed, she said, and it was likely to be painful. The comments were an example of the tone Europe is increasingly taking on China, the second-largest goods trading partner for the 27-nation European Union, after the United States. As Beijing adopts more aggressive trade policies and as imports from China into Europe soar, European leaders and companies are fretting over their reliance on Chinese…

Here’s the Trade Deal That Trump and Xi Should Have Reached

Media Library

With some family gatherings, the best you can hope for is that no one gets drunk and starts a fistfight. Expectations when President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, met on Thursday and Friday were similarly low — and they were met. Mr. Trump had some warm words about the duo’s “fantastic future” and how the Chinese would buy American goods, but the meeting ended without clear progress toward resolving the two sides’ trade disagreements. The result was like a host saying brightly, “It’s so nice when you all get…

Tesla’s Troubles Raise Questions About Its Invincibility

Media Library

Elon Musk appeared to be in a defiant mood Wednesday when he stood before employees at Tesla’s factory near Berlin a week after an arsonist set fire to a high-voltage power pylon and brought production to a standstill. “They can’t stop us,” Mr. Musk, the company’s chief executive, told workers in a giant tent beside the plant. But there are proliferating signs that Tesla may not be as unstoppable as it once seemed. The company’s car sales are no longer growing at a torrid pace. Chinese automakers and established brands…

Flush With Investment, New U.S. Factories Face a Familiar Challenge

Media Library

The Biden administration has begun pumping more than $2 trillion into U.S. factories and infrastructure, investing huge sums to try to strengthen American industry and fight climate change. But the effort is facing a familiar threat: a surge of low-priced products from China. That is drawing the attention of President Biden and his aides, who are considering new protectionist measures to make sure American industry can compete against Beijing. As U.S. factories spin up to produce electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar panels, China is flooding the market with similar goods,…

Could U.S. Toughness on Chinese Business Have Unintended Consequences?

Media Library

At a moment when Washington is trying to reset its tense relationship with China, states across the country are leaning into anti-Chinese sentiment and crafting or enacting sweeping rules aimed at severing economic ties with Beijing. The measures, in places like Florida, Utah and South Carolina, are part of a growing political push to make the United States less economically dependent on China and to limit Chinese investment over concerns that it poses a national security risk. Those concerns are shared by the Biden administration, which has been trying to…