By Isaac Cohen*
Reactions against the latest trade policy measures adopted by the White House started in several fronts.
Over the weekend, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was in Beijing, leading a mission to increase China’s imports of US products, such as soybeans, beef, poultry, natural gas and crude oil. Unfortunately, just before the mission’s departure, the White House announced it would impose tariffs on $50 billion on imports from China, after June 15, if there was no progress in the negotiations. Therefore, at the end of Secretary Ross visit, the official Chinese News Agency Xinhua said “if the US introduces trade measures, including an increase of tariffs, all the economic and trade outcomes negotiated by the two parties will not take effect.”
Something similar happened, also over the last weekend, at a meeting of Finance Ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized economies, hosted by the Canadian Government in Whistler, British Columbia. At the conclusion of the meeting, six delegations from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, issued a joint statement expressing “unanimous concern and disappointment” with the US decision to impose tariffs, for security reasons, on imports of steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. It is extraordinary that a G Seven member is publicly criticized by its peers, particularly because the Finance Ministers were preparing the forthcoming G Seven summit of heads of state, to be held this coming weekend in Quebec, Canada.
*International analyst and consultant, former Director ECLAC Washington. Commentator on economic and financial issues for CNN en Español TV and radio, UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO and other media.
