The issue of disputes between the United States (US) and China is always hotly debated as it has a huge impact on the world economic environment.
Let's look back at how the trade war between the US and China began.
The story begins when Donald Trump becomes US President, replacing Barack Obama. He began reviewing all the old US agreements with other countries.
Trump claims many deals are unprofitable to the US and biased. Among them is that he is dissatisfied because Chinese imports to the US exceeded US $ 375 billion in 2017, compared to US exports to China.
As we all know, Trump is a businessman and of course he prioritizes profit. Prior to becoming President, Trump was involved in the real estate business and was listed as the 766th richest person in the world.
In 2018, the US began launching a tariff attack, a tax imposed on Chinese imported goods. After that, the two countries began to 'reciprocate' the tariff attack.
In December 2018, the two countries agreed to a 90-day ‘ceasefire’ to find a solution.
Last year, as the two countries began to make peace, the US suddenly raised tariffs on China worth US $ 200 billion. The move prompted China to respond by raising the US $ 60 billion tariff.
The dispute continued until January this year when the two countries signed a phase 1 trade agreement.
Why is this US-China trade war affecting the whole world? Both countries are the largest economic countries in the world.
Both countries also have business networks with other countries around the world. When these two countries cause problems, the whole world is also affected, especially the global supply chain.
Global markets will be risky and many sectors will also be affected, especially agriculture and technology, thus causing investors to be afraid to invest.
Not only the tariff war, various other issues also arose including US allegations against China regarding the Covid-19 virus, the issue of Huawei, TikTok and many more.
However, compared to 2018, the tensions between the US and China are not as severe as before. China has already begun to tolerate agreeing to Trump's demands such as China's purchase of agricultural products from the US by China.
Trump is seen urging China to increase the purchase of agricultural products from the US such as soybeans and so on because he wants to defend the farmers in the US.
The peasantry was a strong supporter of Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Therefore, Trump wants to reciprocate their generosity as well as want to gain strong support from those groups in the next election.
In addition to China, there are many other trade agreements with reformed countries such as Japan and European countries. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) involving the US, Mexico and Canada was renewed into the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
