EVANSTON, Ill. --- This week the U.S. announced new tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods. China then responded by announcing tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods. Northwestern University has two experts available to talk about the impact of the moves.
Philip Levy teaches international business strategy at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Previously, he was a senior economist for trade for President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. His research focuses on the political economy of trade agreements.
Levy can be contacted by reaching out to Molly Lynch at 773-505-9719 or [email protected].
Quote from Professor Levy
“It is tempting to place all the blame on the Trump administration, with its aggressive and unorthodox approach to international relations. But in fact, each side deserves a share.
“As far as China is concerned, it has failed to grow into its role as a global economic power. It took on substantial obligations to liberalize its economy when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. As it played out, China’s commitments were more befitting a developed country. That did not mean that China committed to avoiding all objectionable behavior.
“The United States, meanwhile, has often let itself get distracted in its commercial diplomacy with China. The Trump administration certainly does this with its badly misguided emphasis on bilateral trade deficits. Not only did the U.S. wish list have the wrong items at the top, it was often excessively long. Bilateral dialogues would conclude with promises across a wide and unfocused range of topics, rather than concentrating on a few key points of concern. The Trump administration, in its erratic and unfocused behavior toward China, has made a bad situation worse.”
William Hurst, associate professor of political science in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern, is also available for comment. He works on labor politics, contentious politics, political economy, and the politics of law and legal institutions, principally in China and Indonesia. He can be reached at william.hurst@northwestern.
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