Beijing has already employed various familiar tactics from its playbook to retaliate against the United States, including spreading anti-American propaganda.
News Analysis
WASHINGTON—As the trade war between the United States and China intensifies, Beijing seems ready to use any means necessary to prolong the fight rather than concede.
Many in Washington argue that sustained high tariffs could ultimately end the trade relationship between the two countries and accelerate long-desired decoupling from China. Losing access to a large U.S. market would also significantly strain the Chinese economy.
Communist China’s rise since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 has been mainly fueled by controversial trade policies, which include stealing intellectual property, attacking foreign firms operating in the country, and massively subsidizing domestic companies. Hence, Beijing is determined to maintain these mercantilist trade practices, according to Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a science and technology think tank.
Even if Beijing comes to the negotiation table, it’s unwilling to bargain on these core problems that the U.S. government wants resolved, Atkinson told The Epoch Times.
“They’ve never been willing to even acknowledge that these are problems,” he said, adding that Beijing is willing to take trade war casualties at a dramatically higher rate than the United States is.
As of April 15, U.S. tariffs on many Chinese imports stand at 145 percent, while Chinese levies on U.S. goods are at 125 percent.
U.S. President Donald Trump has already signaled that he is willing to lower or pause tariffs if China agrees to negotiations. His offer was met with a public refusal from Beijing.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has already employed various tactics from its playbook to retaliate against the United States. These include spreading anti-American propaganda, pressuring U.S. corporations to lobby on behalf of the regime, and limiting shipments of rare earth materials.
Circulating Propaganda Videos
For years, the CCP has used propaganda to influence public opinion both domestically and internationally. It’s now deploying the same tactic to shape public perception about Trump’s tariffs.
According to “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, the CCP’s latest trick involves a wave of TikTok videos that mock Americans and were generated with artificial intelligence (AI).
“TikTok is weapons-grade spyware, period,” O’Leary told lawmakers during a congressional hearing on April 9 about the CCP’s financial aggression.
“It’s one of the best propaganda machines I’ve ever seen,” he said of TikTok. “If you want evidence of it, go on in the last 24 hours and look at the videos generated there through AI of overweight Americans at sewing machines.”
By Emel Akan
