The negative aspects of China’s business policies don’t only affect companies from the United States, they affect all foreign-owned businesses operating in China, and even those that don’t. So despite the hue and cry that the trade war led by the president of the United States would break the global system, many developed democracies have seen fit to mimic Trump’s stance toward China. Canada, Japan, Australia, and somewhat reluctantly Germany have become more aggressive in their trade relations with China. Bloomberg reports:
With governments from Japan to Canada and Australia taking a harder line on China as President Donald Trump steps up his trade war, Germany too is toughening its policy toward China on matters such as investment or intellectual property. But it’s an especially high-risk strategy for Berlin at a time when its export-dependent economy is flirting with recession.
As Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to visit China this week accompanied by a high-ranking business delegation, she faces a particularly delicate set of policy objectives: maintaining that hard line on Beijing while urging a resolution of the trade war and continuing to press for reciprocal access to China’s lucrative market.
According to a Chinese official who asked not to be identified commenting on policy, Trump’s attempts to lobby European leaders such as Merkel appear to have worked in the short term. Trump has provided a model for world leaders to be globalist in their words and protectionist in their actions, the person said.
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