US-China trade war: Fight between snake and saw

Editor's note: Dr. Summer, who has a doctoral degree in communications from the Communication University of China, has been working in the field of international journalism for 30 years. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the view of CGTN. 

[Cartoon: CGTN/Li Jingjie]

The Trump administration announced on August 7 that it is moving forward with a 25 percent tariff on 16 billion US dollars in Chinese goods, further escalating a trade war with Beijing. The new tariffs, which will take effect on Aug. 23, are the second round of duties that the US has imposed on Chinese goods in a dispute over trade deficit and other issues. An initial round of tariffs was placed on 34 billion dollars of Chinese products on July 6.

China struck back the next day at the US with 16 billion dollars in retaliatory tariffs on US imports, exactly matching the US move.

Although President Trump has claimed that “Tariffs are working far better than anyone ever anticipated,” it’s been reported by NBC’s Ben Popken that Trump's aggressive tariff plan has done little to curtail China's roaring export trade: Official data released on Wednesday indicate China exports rose by 12 percent year on year while an AP tweet put the figure at 13.3 percent for July.

[Screenshot: CGTN]

According to the US media, President Trump is considering more tariffs, which could be levied in September, following a public comment period.

Meanwhile, some Chinese and American economic and trade experts have pointed out that if Trump really wants to solve the trade deficit problems with China, he should adopt effective measures to reshape the American industrial sectors and to change the consumption patterns of the American people. They are criticizing the Trump administration’s trade war as not only hurting the economies of the two countries, but also rattling global markets.  

The ongoing US-China trade war reminds me of a short story I read on Wechat titled “Snake and Saw.” It goes like this: one day, a snake slithers onto a saw. It feels a pain as its body passes through the saw. The snake turns around and takes a bite at the saw, only to get hurt by the sharp teeth of the iron tool. The snake becomes angry, thinking that it’s attacked by the saw. 

As a natural response, the snake winds its body around the saw, in an effort to strangle the latter. But unfortunately, the harder the snake squeezes the saw, the deeper the saw’s teeth cut into the snake’s body. Finally, the snake is killed by its crazy reaction to the saw.

A lesson from the story is that whenever we encounter a problem or challenge, we should think rationally to find a better solution instead of venting anger by attacking others as this often leads to nowhere but failure.