President Trump is facing a multitude of problems regarding China amid the coronavirus pandemic. He wants to somehow punish China for not handling the pandemic well, while also ensuring it won’t hurt his reelection chances or the U.S. economy. And doing so is proving to be very difficult.
Under the Trump administration, U.S.-China relations deteriorated sharply, first labeling China as a “strategic competitor,” launched a trade war against China in 2018, banned Huawei from entering the U.S. market, designated China as a currency manipulator, increased visa restrictions on people from China, and also increased the sale of arms to Taiwan (the U.S. just sold $180 million worth of military equipment to Taiwan yesterday). The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the hostility between the two countries, with Trump declaring that they “could cut off the whole relationship” in an interview with Fox News last Thursday.
With many farmers in the central U.S. hit hard by the trade war, Trump is having to deal with China not buying all the American goods set out in the first phase of the deal signed in January. This has raised some questions about the usefulness of the trade war. However, this could also be used by Trump to implement more stringent policies against China.
There has been an increasingly tense battle of words between top U.S. and Chinese officials since the pandemic broke out in the U.S. For example, Trump has used the terms “China virus” and “Wuhan virus” numerous times in March, and there have been disputes regarding the production, donation, buying, and selling of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks. In addition, U.S. intelligence also describes China as underreporting the number of coronavirus cases. China has denied all of these claims and said that these claims were “lunacy” and “shameless.”
Although these increasingly tense exchanges have been limited to words so far, issues like the recent trade deal falling apart, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea may cause the relationship to worsen further.
With senators introducing bills to try and punish China for the coronavirus pandemic, only time will tell how the U.S.-China relationship will play out. Do you think their relationship will worsen? Let us know in the comments.