Doesn't that plan only work if there is an American-made alternative to the goods that Trump is imposing tariffs on?
Do those alternatives exist? Is the government going to keep providing a bailout/welfare the agriculture industry?
There will be American made goods if trade is balanced, but most of it is that China ISNT REFORMING itself as it was supposed to do when they entered the WTO in 2001.
The problem is that China fends off reforms that would open its markets to more competition but makes use of trade agreements to push into international markets. Some of the promises it allegedly failed to fully deliver on include requiring state-owned enterprises to make purchases on commercial considerations, opening its telecommunications market to competition, manipulating technology standards to block foreign competition and significantly subsidizing its exports.
Chinese companies illegally steal over $200 billion worth of American business secrets -- known as intellectual property -- each year, according to a bipartisan commission report from 2013. The Chinese try to copy movies, electronics and software and churn them out at a cheaper rate.
Over 2 million jobs would return to America if China had laws to protect business secrets like the U.S. does, the report from the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property concluded.
Theft is just one headache. The Chinese government has developed a reputation for changing rules on a whim and heavily favoring domestic companies.
China has made no secret of its intentions to dominate certain industries. For example, it has regularly been accused of "dumping" really cheap steel on world markets. China denies those claims, but U.S. and European steel makers say the intent is to drive them out of business.
The Chinese government has also heavily subsidized certain industries, something that is against the rules of the World Trade Organization, which China joined in 2001. A scathing report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a U.S. think tank, details how China's government plans to pump $100 billion into the Chinese semiconductor industry and restrict U.S. imports. Foreign companies that play by the rules can't compete with that kind of government intervention.
And that's to say nothing of the heavy censorship of foreign businesses like Google (GOOG) and Apple (AAPL) trying to operate in China. This spring, China shut down Apple iBooks and iTunes Movies with little explanation.
Then there are the frustrations over China's currency. Many countries believe China purposefully kept its currency, the yuan, at a very cheap level. That makes Chinese goods inexpensive for customers in the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere. Trump and Clinton both want to formally label China a "currency manipulator."
This is one area where China has been showing some signs of shaping up. It has actually lifted the value of its currency in the past two years. The International Monetary Fund even says the yuan is "no longer undervalued." Still, the issue could easily come back. China just devalued its currency after Brexit.
Here is a list of ways the US can push back, along with TARIFFS:
Stop letting China invest in the U.S. unless it makes it easier for U.S. companies to set up in China
Deny China access to the U.S. banking system and/or U.S. stock market
Put sanctions on companies that have stolen U.S. technology
Refuse to give Chinese patents protection in the U.S. until China honors American patents there
Cut off scientific and other cooperation with China
Bring more World Trade Organization cases against China
Form a coalition with Europe and Japan to push back