Business
23:18, 23-Mar-2018
Is IP friction the cause of US tariffs on Chinese goods?
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The Trump administration was planning to slap tariffs on up to 60 billion US dollars of imported Chinese goods as the administration says China is conducting a state-run scheme to steal intellectual property (IP), thus forcing technology transfers.
Meanwhile, the US has implemented other measures to confront China, including restricting the number of Chinese students conducting research in the US. In general, Chinese technology and innovation companies are rising and the US sees that as a threat to its interests, and IP investigation is an approach being used to suppress Chinese firms.
“China is growing fast and developing well. If the US wants to increase exports, relaxing technology control is one of the terms. It is ridiculous to come up with restricting Chinese students studying in the US, or making it harder to apply [for] visas for Chinese to visit the US. These are all American service exports,” said John Gong, a professor from University of International Business and Economics.
However, according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization, China actually ranks as second to the US with about 49,000 applications. At this pace, China will overtake the US in three years to become the largest source of applications.
Obviously, IP is the real pretext for a trade war between China and US, and China has stated the country will take all necessary measures to safeguard its interests.