China
2022.07.10 14:47 GMT+8

Chinese expert says U.S. lifting tariffs will help reduce inflation

Updated 2022.07.10 14:47 GMT+8
By Wang Hui

It's time for the White House to re-evaluate the additional tariffs that it imposed on Chinese imports in 2018. According to U.S. laws, those tariffs need to be re-evaluated in four years. Some experts said lifting the tariffs will help America's economy.

American media reported that the White House may only lift $10 billion worth of Chinese goods out of the total $370 billion set. Liang Ming, the director of the International Trade at Chinese Academy of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the cancellation of those tariffs will play a critical role in helping relieve America's severe inflation.

"Our preliminary research shows that if Washington cancels all imposed tariffs on Chinese imports, America's inflation rate will go down by at least one point," said Liang. "So, if the U.S. only lifts tariffs on the goods worth $10 billion, it will have little impact on easing America's inflation.”

The high inflation of the U.S. is caused by its quantitative easing policy and its impact on consumption since 2020, said Liang. Later on, other factors made the inflation even worse, like the strain on supply chains caused by the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he explained.

The U.S. is trying to cut down the money supply to cope with its high inflation, but Liang believes this approach could cause other problems.

"If the U.S. continues its policy of decreasing the money supply, it could cause a national economic recession. So, the best way to relieve inflation is to decrease tariffs on Chinese goods, because then the prices of American consumer products and semi-finished goods will also go down," he said.

"It will inject more competition to the American consumption market, and decrease prices."

Despite all these tariffs, the volume of a big number of Chinese goods has still been rising, such as lithium batteries and bicycles, Liang said. 

So, all these added tariffs have actually been shouldered by American consumers, he added.

He continued saying the cancellation of tariffs will not only ease U.S. inflation, but also help the recovery of the global economy.

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