China–United States trade war

The China-United States trade war is a current economic conflict between

china and the United States of America

The United States and China are the two largest economies in the world. The
Chinese foreign trade multiplied after joining the World Trade Organisation in
2001, with bilateral trade between the U.S. and China almost US$559 billion in
2019. The trade became unfriendly as the U.S. was running in large and growing
trade deficit with China, which became a major political issue in the 2016 U.S.
presidential campaign.

The U.S. and China imposed tariffs on goods imported from the other country.
At the end of 2019, the U.S. had imposed tariffs on more than US$360 billion
worth of Chinese goods. China, on the other hand, had retaliated with import
duties worth around US$110 billion on U.S. products.
U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 started the trade barriers on China. This is
to force China to make changes to U.S. norms. These trade practices and their
effects are the growing trade deficit between the countries. The trade war had
negatively impacted the economies of both the United States and China. It has
led to increase in prices for consumers and financial difficulties for farmers and
manufacturers in the USA. In China, economic growth and manufacturing
activity was highly decreased.

Other countries also suffered economic damage as the trade war inclined. It also
led to stock market instability worldwide. Countries around the world, have taken
measyres to address the damage caused by an economic conflict with dialogue.
On a global level, the foreign direct investment has slowed down. The
manufacturing sector around the world has come down. Countries that depend on
manufacturing as their sole industrial products have been affected the most. This
is due to china being a dominant producer in semi-conductor and hardware.

The trade war did hurt hurt the European economy as well, particularly Germany,
the most. Even though Germany has good trade relations with both countries. The
Canadian economy had adverse effects, as it is a neighbouring county to the U.S.
In 2019, Britain, Germany, Japan, and South Korea showed "a weak
manufacturing performance". Many Asian governments instituted stimulus
measures to address trade damage by seeking help from economists.

Some countries have benefited from the trade war, due to increasing exports to
the United States and China to fill the gaps left. These countries include
Argentina, Vietnam, Chile, and Malaysia. Vietnam is the biggest beneficiary as
technology companies moving the manufacturing units there. South Korea has
also benefited from the increase in electronics exports as it has major electronic
manufacturing companies like Samsung and L.G. Malaysia benefited from semi-
conductor exports, Mexico from automobiles, and Brazil from its soybeans.
However, these countries may not benefit long-term, as it is in everyone's interest
to resolve and go back to normal trade relations. Many Taiwanese companies also
started expanding production in Taiwan. The portable gaming console, Nintendo
has reportedly moved some Nintendo Switch production from China to Southeast
Asia.