(Source: China News Network 2025-04-10)

China News Service, Beijing, April 10, Title: The so-called “reciprocal tariffs” of the United States impact the world

——Exclusive interview with Tu Xinquan, Dean of the China World w88 Organization Research Institute at the w88 casino

U.S. President Trump recently announced the implementation of so-called "reciprocal tariffs", provoking a global w88 war, triggering an extremely strong response from the international community, and causing huge shocks in global financial markets.

What is the underlying motivation behind the United States’ insistence on imposing tariffs indiscriminately? How will this move affect the global economic and w88 pattern?Tu Xinquan, Dean of the China World w88 Organization (WTO) Research Institute at the w88 casinoRecently accepted an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question".

The interview transcript is summarized as follows:

China News Service reporter: What is "reciprocal tariff"? What kind of w88 policy tool is it essentially?

Tu Xinquan:The concept of "reciprocity" used to be translated as reciprocal (reciprocal in English). This time it is widely understood as "reciprocity," which refers to the so-called "equal" treatment that the United States emphasizes with its trading partners.

In fact, the term "reciprocity" has a long history of use in w88 policy. In 1934, the United States passed the Reciprocal w88 Agreements Act, which reduced tariffs through negotiations with other countries. After the introduction of the bill, tariff formulation shifted to bilateral negotiations until the birth of the General Agreement on Tariffs and w88 (GATT) in 1947, which then moved towards multilateral negotiations. But generally speaking, tariffs have been based on the principle of reciprocity.

It needs to be emphasized that since the implementation of the Reciprocal w88 Agreement Law, tariff negotiations have never pursued "absolute reciprocity". They have only been committed to the overall reduction of bilateral tariffs, rather than the complete reduction of tariffs on both sides. Due to the different types of goods traded between trading partners, it is difficult to achieve complete reciprocity in tariffs. The pursuit of reciprocity is an illogical assumption in itself.

In addition, the tariff calculation method proposed by the US government this time actually revolves around the w88 deficit. What Trump hopes to achieve is "zero w88 balance," but this idea is also unrealistic. Due to the different industrial structures of various countries, the United States cannot achieve a balanced w88 balance with every country.

The South Lawn of the White House in Washington, USA (data map). Photo by China News Service reporter Chen Mengtong

China News Service reporter: Has there ever been a policy similar to the so-called "reciprocal tariff" in history? What are the consequences?

Tu Xinquan:Looking back at history, we can refer to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act introduced by the United States in 1930, which significantly increased tariffs. At that time, U.S. trading partners took countermeasures and increased tariffs on U.S. products, triggering a global w88 war.

This w88 war directly led to the collapse of the US economy and the global economic depression. In fact, before the bill was introduced, the U.S. economy had recovered somewhat, but after the bill was introduced, the U.S. economy declined sharply again.

The current round of tariff war is logically similar to that of that year. The difference is that at that time, the United States imposed unified unilateral tariffs on other countries, but now it imposes different tariffs on each country.

Moreover, the degree of globalization is higher now, the economic interdependence of various countries and the complexity and closeness of the global supply chain are much higher than in the past, which also means that this w88 policy is bound to trigger a stronger and wider chain reaction.

Reporter from China News Service: What is the current motivation for the United States to advocate the so-called "reciprocal tariffs"?

Tu Xinquan:The reason why the United States advocates the implementation of so-called "reciprocal tariffs" stems from the so-called "loss theory" proposed by Trump, which believes that w88 deficit means "the United States suffers a loss." But this is looking at the issue from the perspective of an enterprise. The country is not an enterprise, and the country's accounts cannot be calculated according to the logic of the enterprise.

On the other hand is the domestic industrial problem in the United States, that is, the relative decline of the manufacturing industry. Although the total volume of the U.S. manufacturing industry is still growing, its manufacturing value added as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and its share of global manufacturing are declining. This decline has also brought about practical problems such as declining employment rates and declining national defense capabilities.

From an economic perspective, the United States’ w88 deficit is mainly caused by its own economic structure. The United States is a country with long-term low savings and high consumption. Savings have been lower than investment for a long time, so it needs to use foreign savings for financing. This is the fundamental reason for the formation and long-term w88 deficit in the United States.

The w88 deficit is also closely related to the exchange rate. As the U.S. dollar is the world's currency, countries hope to exchange exports for more U.S. dollars, which leads to the overvaluation of the U.S. dollar exchange rate and further expands the U.S. w88 deficit. However, it needs to be pointed out that the US dollar’s ​​world currency status also brings many benefits and conveniences to it.

From the perspective of international competition, the so-called "unfair w88" emphasized by the United States obviously does not take into account the differences in factor costs and institutional structures between different countries. As long as it cannot compete with others, it will be deemed that the other party's "behavior is unfair". This US logic is untenable.

In general, the United States hopes to use so-called "reciprocal tariffs" to reduce the huge w88 deficit and promote the reshoring of manufacturing, and uses this as a means of pressure in foreign negotiations.

On March 25, 2025 local time, customers were spending money in a restaurant in Times Square, New York, USA. On the same day, the Conference Board released data showing that the U.S. consumer confidence index fell to 92.9 in March. This data has declined for four consecutive months. Photo by China News Service reporter Liao Pan

The United States recently announced that it will implement a 90-day suspension of tariffs on countries that do not take retaliatory actions. Judging from the latest statement, this is also an example of the changeable US tariff policy. In the short term, the United States is aware of the negative impact of this policy and urgently needs to appease market sentiment; in the long term, this policy cannot achieve the desired policy effect and is unsustainable.

Reporter from China News Service: Today, when global value chains are highly intertwined and economies are highly interdependent, what impact will the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" by the United States have on the global w88 pattern?

Tu Xinquan:The so-called "reciprocal tariff" policy implemented by the Trump administration this time can be said to be the most destructive w88 measure in the past 80 years. Since the end of World War II, world w88 policies have generally developed in the direction of liberalization. Even if there is a w88 protectionist backlash, it is mostly local and individual. But this time the tariff policy is global and industry-wide. A substantial increase in tariffs on a global scale will not only seriously undermine the world w88 order, but also cause serious disruption to the global supply chain.

As the world's largest importer of goods, the United States plays a pivotal role in the world w88 cycle. Today, the United States is trying to break away from the global supply chain and return to "isolationism" to form a so-called self-sufficient economy, which will have a serious impact on the global economic and w88 pattern. The regression of globalization and the reorganization of global supply chains may become basic trends.

But at the same time, most countries in the world currently support free w88 more, and the WTO is still operating. As long as other countries other than the United States can adhere to the free w88 system, the global w88 order is still expected to be maintained.

On May 9, 2024, the busy scene of the import and export container terminal of Nanjing Longtan Port (data map). Photo by China News Service reporter Yang Bo

From a global perspective, the key lies in how several major economies respond to the impact brought by the United States. China and the EU will play an important role in this. If China and Europe can achieve closer cooperation as the United States gradually withdraws from globalization, it is expected to become a key force in dealing with the impact of US tariffs. (End)

Attached is the original link: https://m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/chs/zw/10397649.shtml.