Will Trump head to G7 summit with his trade gamble?

World
Europe

By CGTN’s The Point

The Trump administration is forging ahead with its “America First” doctrine in the global trade arena, experts say, by slapping the tariffs on not only the second largest economy China but also allies including G7 states.

“Time to get smart! ” US President Donald Trump tweeted, grumbling that other countries have ripped off the US on trade for years, a move in support of the decision of the US to revive steep tariffs on metal goods from the EU, Canada and Mexico.

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“This seems to be a ‘trade war’ in tension, or tactic for trade negotiations,” said Jiang Wenran, a senior fellow at the Institute of Asian Research University of British Columbia, at CGTN’s The Point (@thepointwithlx).

Jiang said the Trump team, with Trump short-attention-span and hardliners inside, has no clear “ideological or strategic” lines when it comes to handling trading partnership.

Among criticism, the US was singled out by G7 allies as France’s Bruno Le Marie warned of a “trade war” underway.

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However, James Rae, a visiting scholar at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the economic nationalist Trump sees EU’s competitive industries as a challenge to US policies, noting the Trump team believe the US could win in “trade wars.”

“They’ve been really able to get all players to engage in this kind of battle rather than using the World Trade Organization,” Rae said. “They will damage the world economy, but Trump believes the US could sustain and win this battle at least in a short term.”

But Jiang argued that Trump is making a calculation as well as a gamble.

He said that Trump’s TV interviews have been all about ‘America First,’” referring to Trump’s political point-scoring situation for the mid-term election in the fall. Meanwhile, raising trade fears is aimed to bring all to the negotiation table.

Besides threatening to retaliate US trade slap, ministers within the G7 urged the US to drop the tariffs ahead of next week’s summit in Quebec where Trump is scheduled to meet other G7 leaders.

The Point with Liu Xin is a 30-minute current affairs program on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 9:30 p.m. BJT (1330GMT), with rebroadcasts at 5:30 a.m. (2130GMT) and 10:30 a.m. (0230GMT).