{"id":1322,"date":"2020-02-13T15:36:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T21:36:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=1322"},"modified":"2020-02-13T15:36:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T21:36:34","slug":"us-china-trade-policy-and-the-coronavirus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=1322","title":{"rendered":"US-China Trade Policy and the Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You might be wondering what the coronavirus has to do\nwith the US-China trade policy. The spread of the virus is taking a toll on the\nChinese economy, which could make it more difficult for China to meet some of\nits commitments in the deal. But the coronavirus crisis is also an opportunity\nfor the US to regain some favor with the Chinese people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not surprisingly, China\u2019s state-run press has reported on\nthe trade dispute and accompanying tariffs with an anti-US, anti-Trump tone. The\nUS position on trade with China has always been about policy, economics, and\nfairness, not the Chinese people. Working with the Chinese to save lives can\nchange how they interpret the US position on trade. When it comes to a health\nthreat, we\u2019re on the same team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Trump administration has pledged millions of dollars\nto help China and other countries deal with the challenge. The President also\noffered US brainpower. China initially rejected his proposal, but last week\nagreed to allow the World Health Organization (WHO) to send in an international\nteam of experts\u2014including US physicians\u2014to help. This is good news for those\nmost affected by the spread of the virus. It also sends a message that the US\nand China can collaborate on problems of mutual interest.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chinese government has a history of glossing over bad\nnews and generally prefers to report that \u201ceverything is under control.\u201d The\nSARS epidemic in 2003 illustrates how hiding the truth can be devastating (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-china-health-sars\/the-shadow-of-sars-china-learned-the-hard-way-how-to-handle-an-epidemic-idUSKBN1ZL12B\">https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-china-health-sars\/the-shadow-of-sars-china-learned-the-hard-way-how-to-handle-an-epidemic-idUSKBN1ZL12B<\/a>). Things might be different with the coronavirus. The\nmore Chinese officials welcome (or at least permit) outside assistance, the\nmore likely they will release accurate details about the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The \u201ceverything is under\ncontrol\u201d mentality is not limited to health and politics. Overly optimistic\neconomic reports from the Chinese government are also common. Growth statistics\nare notoriously unreliable and typically suggest steady progress supported by\nwise governance.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first phase of the trade deal could mark the first\nstep toward a more equitable relationship that supports open markets and freer\ntrade in both directions. This would mean a new normal for Chinese business and\nwill be challenging to accomplish. It will be easier to implement phase 1 of\nthe trade agreement and work on phase 2 if there is some goodwill on both\nsides. We can generate this by helping China get the coronavirus under control.\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You might be wondering what the coronavirus has to do with the US-China trade policy. The spread of the virus is taking a toll on the Chinese economy, which could make it more difficult for China to meet some of its commitments in the deal. But the coronavirus crisis is also an opportunity for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[2,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1323,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1322\/revisions\/1323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}