International Relations Issue Paper

How did President Donald Trump Affect Tensions Between the US and China during the 2018 Trade War?

During his presidency, Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, significantly increased tensions between the United States and China. His foreign trade policies essentially started a trade war with China which became a global economic issue. While previous American presidents have prioritized an international presence, this concern shifted during Donald Trump’s presidency as he took a much more domestic approach. Not only did his executive decisions affect the relationship with China, but his rowdy and unhinged personality intensified the conflict. This paper will focus specifically on the relationship between the United States and China and how Trump and his trade policies increased tension between the two countries. This will be done by analyzing the issue from the realist and constructivist perspectives in international relations. The paper will also discuss the impact of the trade war globally. 

One of the first instances of rising tensions with China during Trump’s presidency occurred early in 2018. In February, the Department of Commerce announced that steel and aluminum imports from China threatened national security. The reason is that these cheap imports take away from domestic production. Trump announced tariffs a month later on many countries, including China. In April, China announced retaliatory tariffs on many US products including aluminum waste. Other countries, such as Canada and Turkey, also retaliated by imposing tariffs on the US. 

In March 2018, the USTR (United States Trade Representative) released a report investigating China’s trade practices under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. This report would determine if China’s trade practices threaten US intellectual property rights and/or technological advantages. The results from this report concluded that China was indeed using unfair trade practices, to which Donald Trump responded by imposing a 25% tariff on $50 billion of select Chinese imports. In retaliation, China responded with their list of US products that they were placing a 25% tax on as well. Included largely in this list from China were vehicles, aircraft, vessels, and soybeans. 

Tensions were especially high in July and August when the US and China went back and forth threatening more tariffs and making final adjustments to them. By September, the US finalized tariffs of 10% on $200 billion in imports from China. China also finalized its tariffs against the US on $60 billion of goods ranging from five to ten percent. This economic dispute continued for another year until December 2019 when Donald Trump and China’s Vice Premier Liu signed what is called the Phase One Deal. 

The Phase One Deal was an agreement where the United States required China to change its practices when conducting trade with the US. When asked about the Phase One Deal, the USTR responded by saying that it “requires structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime in the areas of intellectual property, technology transfer, agriculture, financial services, and currency and foreign exchange” (Fact Sheets, USTR). While the Phase One Deal did not eliminate the tensions between the US and China, it put the trade war to rest by calling for peace between the two countries. In 2023, the current President of the United States, Joe Biden, is still dealing with the aftermath of the trade conflict with China.

The perspective in international relations that is optimal in explaining the US-China economic issue is the realist theory. The main ideas of the realist theory are that states are driven by the pursuit of power and are the key actors and that national interest is defined in terms of power. When looking at the question of how tensions between the US and China heightened during the Trump presidency, the factors at hand are power dynamics, protectionism, and national interest. 

Power dynamics play a large part in the US-China trade war as both countries are fighting for economic superiority. In the realist theory, there are three main types of power, “hard,” “soft,” and “smart.” “Hard power” is the most forceful of the types and “coerces another to act in ways in which that entity would not have acted otherwise” (Hilton) Examples include military intervention or economic sanctions on another country. “Soft power” is persuading another country or indirectly negotiating with them. Examples include media, such as the news, social networking, or movies. The final type is “Smart power,” which is essentially a combination of hard and soft power. A popular example is the act of diplomacy. In the instance of the US-China trade war, the United States acted mostly with “hard power,” such as imposing tariffs on China, but used “smart power” when they initiated the Phase One Deal. The same goes for China as well, they used “hard power” when retaliating with tariffs of their own and “smart power” when agreeing to the US’s terms for the Phase One Deal. Though this piece of information is not relevant to the three types of power, it is important to note that the US exerts more power over China since they made China agree to their terms in the Phase One Deal. 

When Donald Trump’s administration warned him of China’s threat to the United States' national security he became defensive with his policies. He did this by threatening and imposing tariffs on China, and even other countries. The concept of a state acting defensively to protect its power is called protectionism, which is one of the strategies Trump used when dealing with the economic conflict with China. As mentioned previously, states are driven by the pursuit of power, along with national interests in the realist theory. In the US-China issue, the United States demonstrates pursuing these goals to protect the domestic economy and to enforce its power in the international community (Goldberg and Reed).

In addition to power dynamics and protectionism, national interest was another primary concern for the United States during the US-China conflict. National interest is what a state’s main priorities are, the most important of those concerns is the security of a state. As mentioned before, the Trump administration declared that China threatened the US national security. In February 2018, the Department of Commerce released a report stating that imports from foreign countries harm domestic steel and aluminum production (U.S. Department of Commerce). The next instance of threats to national security during the US-China issue was when the USTR released a report on the “Findings of the Investigation into China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation Under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974” (USTR). The American economy was not only put at risk due to the situation with China, but so was its status globally. The national security threats mentioned above connects to the importance of the US maintaining their economic superiority over China during the Trump presidency. 

The next best perspective in international relations that is excellent in analyzing the economic issue between the United States and China is the constructivist theory. The main concept of constructivism is that states act based on their identities, interests, cultures, etc. Constructivists believe that ideas, norms, and outcomes can change. They also view a state as a socially constructed entity with a collection of changing national interests. The ideas that influenced how tensions increased between the US and China include his administration reshaping the identity of China and his holding different interests from previous American administrations. 

A large part of why tension with China intensified during the Trump presidency is because of him and his rhetoric. Donald Trump would often make quippy remarks, displaying China in a terrible light. In fact, he spoke so negatively about China that he reshaped its identity almost single-handedly. Before he was president he did not hold as great of an influence, but as he began to campaign, and then take office, his conviction began to gain an increasing amount of popularity. Trump would often portray the country as an “enemy” rather than an ally or a trade partner (USA Today). At a campaign rally in 2016 Donald Trump said said, “The single biggest weapon used against us and to destroy our companies is devaluation of currencies, and the greatest ever at that is China. Very smart, they are like grand chess masters. And we are like checkers players. But bad ones.” (ABC News) 

When Trump was campaigning for office, he promoted strengthening domesticity so that jobs in America would increase, along with the economy. When he became the president, Trump began to gain even more influence over China’s identity. Because of the US-China trade conflict, Trump used this reshapened identity of China to his advantage so that he would gain support from the American people for his tariffs. An example of this is when he tweeted in 2018, “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win. Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don’t trade anymore-we win big. It’s easy!” (Trump).  

Another reason why the Constructivist theory explains why tensions rose between the US and China is that Donald Trump went against how previous presidents interacted with China. Before Trump, previous leaders approached relations with China positively. For instance, Barrack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, stated that “The relationship between the United States and China is the most important bilateral relationship of the 21st century” (Lieberthal). Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, went as far as signing the US-China Relations Act of 2000. This act worked to develop trade relations with China and make it easier for them to trade with the US. As both of these examples work toward strengthening the relationship with China, it is evident that Donald Trump worsened this connection with his imposition of tariffs and threats against China. 

The trade war that Trump started between the US and China not only affects those two countries but many others around the world. When Donald Trump imposed his tariffs on steel and aluminum many countries were outraged. The tariffs were for all trade partners at first, but he made some exceptions, like South Korea for example. Because of these newly imposed tariffs, Canada and Turkey retaliated with their own against the United States (Bown and Kolb). Other countries in the EU also retaliate by importing their steel and aluminum from elsewhere so they do not have to pay the US tariff.   

In conclusion, Donald Trump's presidency changed the relationship between the United States and China, leading to increased tensions and a trade war. Trump's approach was different from his predecessors as he acted very assertively and used protectionist trade policies. The U.S. and China struggled for economic superiority, to which Trump responded by shaping China's identity into that of a rival. This led to global impacts, with countries feeling the effects of retaliatory tariffs and shifts in global trade patterns. Trump's policies continue to affect our present day, with 46th President, Joe Biden, facing ongoing challenges between the two countries.

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