Trump Tariffs Impact China Currency

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Alex Wong/Getty Images

 

We ran the numbers: There are 2355 news articles covering this topic. 4% (96) are left leaning, 14% (341) center, 81% (1918) right leaning.

On Thursday, President Trump announced that he would impose a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports in addition to the 25% tariff on a separate $250 billion imports. The additional tariff comes after China backed out of a promise to increase its agricultural purchases. 

In response to the increased tariffs, China devalued its currency, the yuan, to its lowest level in over a decade, aiming to lessen the impact of these tariffs.

The left-leaning Washington Post coverage of the tariffs discusses how China halting its imports of U.S. farm goods was an easy decision for Chinese President Xi Jinping to make, considering the decline of U.S. farm exports in the last few years. The article also speculates the outcome of the upcoming U.S.-China trade talks in September. “Xi may be betting that Trump, desperate for a win on the campaign trail, will at some point agree to a smaller deal focused primarily on concrete Chinese purchases he can tout,” the article stated.

An article from the center such as the one published by The Hill, focuses its attention on the economics the issue, discussing how China devaluing its currency has caused the U.S. stock market to drop significantly. It also highlights President Trump’s tweet in response to China’s devaluation–labeling “China's move ‘currency manipulation’ and called on the Federal Reserve to act, which is not the prime objective of the central bank. ‘This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time!’” the article quoted.

In contrast, the more right-leaning article from Fox Business focuses more on the resulting geopolitical issue–China’s increased assertiveness in the South China Sea–highlighted comments from U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper during his visit to Sydney, Australia. “We firmly believe no one nation can or should dominate the Indo-Pacific and we are working alongside our allies and partners to address the region’s pressing security needs”, Esper quoted in the article.


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