The US- China trade war: Causes and Effects

Abstract

This paper studies the US-China trade war currently being initiated by the US in early 2018 from a US standpoint. This paper starts by introducing the chronology of the trade war. With the findings, we attributed the causes of the US-China trade war to three main reasons: US intentions to reduce the trade deficit, block China’s access to core technologies, and close the government deficit gap. In contrast to President Trump’s optimistic expectation that the US would benefit, the trade war became a lose-lose game. The trade war's escalation, which included both additional tariffs and restrictions on the transfer of high-tech products, had a negative impact on domestic consumers, businesses, and employment, further slowing down the US economic growth.