Yearly February 21st holds little cache’. Sure it’s a week after Valentine’s Day so it might be remembered for throwing out dead roses that warmed hearts for about five minutes. But in 1972 February 21st was a day that warmed an ice-cold relationship and in turn gave hope to a world that had plenty of cold wars brewing.
President Richard M. Nixon arrived in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China, on the first ever US President’s visit to the world’s most populous nation. Because the U.S. federal government had formerly opposed China’s communist government since it took power in 1949, Nixon was also the first president to visit a nation not recognized by the United States. In Beijing, President Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong.
At the Shanghai Communique on February 27, Nixon and the Chinese premier agreed to lessen the risk of war, expand cultural contacts between the two nations, and establish a permanent U.S. trade mission in China. The two leaders also secretly discussed how they could work together to carefully watch the growth of Soviet power in Asia and elsewhere around the globe.
It was progress, but it was begrudging and it churned forward slowly. As the years wore on the trade between the two superpowers grew and grew. But so did the trade imbalance and the tariffs imposed by China. Both have risen geometrically and unchecked by the US.
And now a mere 47 years later President Trump is attempting to tackle it. He is seeking what he calls trade equality. In short he states that he wants to balance the trade imbalance-make the China exports and imports more equal in dollar value. And he want the tariffs (taxes imposed by both countries on incoming goods) equalized as well.
After years of trade agreements that bound the countries of the world more closely and erased restrictions on trade, a populist backlash has grown against globalization. This was evident in Trump’s 2016 election and the British vote that year to leave the European Union. You know, MAGA.
Critics note that big corporations in rich countries exploited rules to move factories to China, then shipped these goods back to their wealthy home countries while paying low tariffs. Since China joined the WTO in 2001, the United States has “lost” nearly 3 million factory jobs, though many economists believe a significant percentage of that loss is not just to trade but to artificial intelligence(robots) that replaces human workers.
President Trump blames what he calls their abusive trade policies for America’s persistent trade deficits — $566 billion last year. Most economists, by contrast, say the deficit simply reflects the reality that the United States spends more than it saves.
In 1972 the US was very divided over Nixon’s visit to China. “Why should America even step on communist soil?” was a constant retort. Just shy of two years later Richard Milhous Nixon was impeached for all together unrelated reasons.
In 2019 the US is very divided over the imposition of these tariffs on China as well as the many other nations that the Donald John Trump team has renegotiated trade deals with. “Why mess with what has been working?” is the constant retort.
In fact in 2019 the US is very divided over everything. Two years from now a new congress and either a new president or President Trump are sworn in to office. If it’s a new congress that takes control of the Senate and President Trump is reelected might he be impeached for all together unrelated reasons?
If you are old enough you can still hear the tone and see President Nixon as he assured America, “I am not a crook!”
What fate lies ahead for President Trump? And what will he say when he exits the American political stage whether forced out, elected out, or has served the maximum eight years allowed by our Constitution? Our guess is that it will be strongly worded regardless of the pulpit, the audience, and the reason.
Meanwhile, the cost of your “made in China” items are about to go up it seems because Trump thinks China is a crook.
