The mammoth US trade deficit with China caused political ructions yesterday after new data showed it on course to surpass US$200 billion for last year.
US industry insiders demanded reprisals against China's "predatory" trade policies, while US Trade Representative Rob Portman reiterated appeals for Beijing to relax its currency and open up its markets.
open market
"Our market is very open to Chinese products. It's been good for our economy to have an open trading system," Portman told the CNBC business network.
"But along with that, we need to have the ability also to sell our products on a more level playing field basis in China," he said.
The Commerce Department reported the US trade deficit stood at US$64.2 billion in November, down about six percent from the previous month but still a hefty shortfall in goods and services.
The deficit with China accounted for more than one-quarter of the total November gap, at US$18.5 billion.
That was down about 10 percent from October. But for the 11 months to November, the China deficit reached US$185 billion, and should top US$200 billion including last month.
Portman said a revaluation of China's currency, while not a "silver bullet" for the realignment of Sino-US trade, was an "important" step that Beijing should take.
China must also attack intellectual piracy, he said, arguing US exports are "uniquely disadvantaged" by Chinese counterfeiters because many are knowledge-based products such as software and entertainment.
Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC), took umbrage at the official response in Washington to China's trade advantage.
`Enough is enough'
"Enough is enough," he said, claiming that China "manipulates its currency, subsidizes its banking and industrial sector, and misreports its economic numbers."
AMTAC demanded that Congress pass legislation that would slap hefty tariffs on Chinese imports if Beijing refuses to float its currency.
It said also the US government should withdraw developing country status from China in the World Trade Organization's Doha round of talks, and should instead subject it to much tougher criteria for developed nations.
"It is long past time for US policymakers to recognize that China is a superpower in terms of international trade," Tantillo argued.
"The United States can no longer allow China to use predatory trade practices to destroy US jobs and factories."
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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