Do U.S. Democrats Have a Better China Strategy?
The special Sino Saturday edition of CEO Daily.
Greetings from Hong Kong. Alan noted in this space yesterday that the proposition cooperative economic relations between the United States and China must be preserved is an idea that enjoys scant support in America.
That’s a crucial observation, not least because it applies to U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle. President Trump recently suggested Chinese leader Xi Jinping is betting Trump re-election bid will fail and hopes China will be able to negotiate a more favorable trade deal with a Democratic president. And yet leading Democratic presidential contenders seem frantic to convince voters they’re every bit as hawkish on China as Trump, if not more so. Hostility to China seems to be one of the few issues on which both Republicans and Democrats agree.
True, Trump’s rivals are keen to highlight consequences of his China tariffs, which are beginning to inflict severe pain on farmers in key battleground states like Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
But Democratic presidential hopefuls want to eat their cake and have it. As a Washington Post analysis of the latest Democratic presidential debate points out: “[W]hile many criticized Trump’s handling of the trade war, none of the candidates would say they would move to quickly repeal the wide-ranging tariffs Trump has put in place on Chinese imports. Some suggested that they would keep the tariffs in place for their own trade negotiations.”
Vox put it more succinctly: “When it came to delivering their plans on how to handle China, the candidates sounded a bit like, well, Trump.” Reason skewered candidates Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, and Pete Buttigieg for decrying Trump’s lack of a China strategy when they clearly don’t have one themselves.
One Democratic contender, Elizabeth Warren, advocates policies that would impose far more Draconian conditions on U.S.-China trade relationship than those advocated by Trump. SUP China‘s Daniel Schoolenberg notes that Warren would require China to meet international labor standards and human rights, and demonstrate compliance with the environmental commitments Beijing made under the Paris Climate Agreement.
Even so, Business Insider argues the problem for Democrats is that, when it comes to China, Trump has stolen their playbook. CNBC.com political analyst Jake Novak says Democrats aren’t bashing China hard enough.
So far no one on the Democratic side, including frontrunner Joe Biden, has mustered the courage to campaign for free markets.
Clay Chandler
– Clay.Chandler@Fortune.com
– @ClayChandler