In Al Jazeera, Harry Broadman, a former US assistant trade representative and one of the chief negotiators of the WTO, wonders what Trump’s real plan is with these tariffs when it comes to China, decoupling or ending all business. “He’s obviously a deals guy in real estate, but not international markets … How he thinks is, ‘How can I win and how can I make the opponent lose?’” he said.
Al Jazeera:
While Trump has long accused China of ripping off the US on trade, analysts have questioned whether his administration has a clear goal of what it wants to achieve with its tariffs.
Harry Broadman, a former US assistant trade representative and one of the chief negotiators of the WTO, said it is not clear whether Trump wants to close the trade deficit with China or end business with the country outright.
“How does Trump deal with US firms that need their goods from China for their factories to work? It’s not black and white,” Broadman told Al Jazeera.
“Markets are layered through the different stages of production, you’ve got components coming from all over the world. The global economy is finely chopped up vertically, so it’s not obvious who the winners and losers are.”
Broadman said Trump’s approach to trade has been simplistic and unrealistic.
“He’s obviously a deals guy in real estate, but not international markets … How he thinks is, ‘How can I win and how can I make the opponent lose?’” he said.
“It’s not more sophisticated than that. He’s not interested in splitting the spoils. But you don’t get very far with that.”
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