President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address (SOTU) included a brief reference to China, but other than a cursory mention of Taiwan, the wording was changed to avoid making remarks that would anger Beijing. had been carefully carved out.
In SOTU’s China section, Biden often boasted that, contrary to the opinion of most Americans, his country’s economy is doing well and that China is no longer a major challenge.
“For years, all I heard from my Republican friends and many others was that China was rising and America was falling behind. “America is on the rise. Our economy is the best in the world,” Biden said.
“Since I took office, our GDP has risen. And our trade deficit with China has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade. We will stand up against China’s unfair economic practices.” said.
President Joe Biden speaks during the State of the Union address at the Capitol on March 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In fact, in India, fastest growing Current gross domestic product of major developed countries.This is what the Chinese economy looks like trouble – Probably much more problematic than its leadership gladly admit – But that issue has nothing to do with Joe Biden or his policies.
China’s recovery from hard-line pandemic lockdowns has been hampered by some reckless fiscal policies and has been much slower than leaders expected. After the pandemic, foreign capital turned out to be more serious about “risk aversion” by moving investments out of China than expected by the Chinese government. China’s real estate market remains raging debt bomb As a result, foreign investors are nervous about spending large sums of money on any aspect of China’s economy.
However, the Chinese economy grown It has been reported to grow by 5.2% in 2023 (official figures from the Chinese government should always be viewed with some skepticism), and a similar growth rate is expected in 2024. The overall US GDP growth rate in 2023 is much lower Only 2.5%. The pace picked up in the third and fourth quarters, but despite Mr. Biden’s boasts, it still lags far behind China’s growth.
US trade deficit with China remains hugeHowever, it declined in 2023 compared to the near-record high of $951 billion in 2022. Biden conveniently forgot to mention the trade deficit. rose sharply Again in January 2024.
I felt it on CNN too. I had to call a foul. Regarding Biden’s bragging about trade deficits, he pointed out that the only thing Joe Biden did was affect that trade deficit. He sent American inflation through the roof, leaving American consumers struggling to feed their families with less money to spend on imported goods.
The reason for the narrowing of the trade gap is not due to the Biden administration’s policies. Inflation has kept U.S. consumers away from spontaneous purchases of electronics and other items that are primarily manufactured in China. Instead, they are buying more non-discretionary items like groceries.
On top of that, the Trump administration’s tariffs on Chinese goods left in place by the Biden administration create additional costs, making Chinese products less popular with Americans. That’s why, for the first time in 20 years, the United States is importing more goods from countries other than China. Mexico exported more goods to the United States last year than any other country.
Even Biden’s apologists admit He has largely maintained former President Donald Trump’s China trade policies, confounding early expectations that Biden would reverse most of them. The biggest difference is that complaints in the U.S. media that tariffs on China were hurting U.S. consumers suddenly stopped on the day Biden took office.
Biden’s defenders also believe that he has done more to build an international alliance to counter the rising power of China, although Biden himself believes that China is no longer rising compared to the United States. That was my personal theory, so I only briefly mentioned it in SOTU. The 2021 AUKUS Security Partnership, which brings together the US, UK and Australia, has become the most important of these diplomatic achievements, after some turmoil. An eventful start; It’s certainly an agreement with China complain loudest.
Mr. Biden said his administration would “stand up for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” perhaps the most frustrating line for Beijing, but both Mr. Biden’s rhetoric and policies toward Taiwan are in line with his recent predecessors. It’s not much different.
biden Said In January, after Taiwan’s recent elections, he said his administration did not support Taiwan’s “independence.” Although the United States has retreated significantly from its previous claims to protect Taiwan from Chinese attack, this is largely consistent with its stance since “strategic ambiguity.” 1979.
“I’ve made sure that cutting-edge American technology can’t be used in Chinese weapons. Frankly, I can’t believe my predecessor would do something like that, despite all the tough things he’s said about China. I had no idea,” Biden boasted. a few swipes During SOTU, he criticized his likely 2024 opponent, Donald Trump.
biden signed In August 2023, an executive order was issued restricting the outflow of US high-tech investments to China. The government said the narrowly tailored order was aimed at keeping cutting-edge chips and information technology out of Chinese hands for national security reasons. This order affected only a small portion of the most advanced technologies.
The Trump administration actually blocked some technology transfers to China. talked It imposed tougher restrictions but faced considerable resistance from US tech giants. Among other objections, the companies said strict export restrictions would undermine the United States’ status as the world’s leading research and development hub. They also feared that losing access to the Chinese market could have a devastating impact on their income.
“We want competition with China, but we don’t want conflict. And we’re in a stronger position to compete with China and other countries as we head into the 21st century,” Biden said. He concluded the China portion of the SOTU speech.
Although this is a prediction of the future and only time can assess its accuracy, China still has some formidable advantages. They can operate without paying heavy burdens to activist groups, as U.S. government projects and private industry must do. And while that labor has become increasingly expensive, it’s still much cheaper than American labor, thanks in large part to slavery.
China is in control of the green energy and electric vehicle technology that America’s political class is forcing its people to buy. The Chinese believe that authoritarian control of speech protects them from political interference of the kind used against the United States and other countries.
There is also the question of how much influence China has over American politicians and media, including the Biden family.
Breitbart News senior contributor Peter Schweitzer details in new book Blood Money: Why those in power turn a blind eye while China kills Americans, The Biden family has some questionable “economic entanglements” with China, which perhaps limits the steps President Biden is willing to take against America’s major geopolitical adversary. there is a possibility.
Schweitzer’s book explains how Beijing finance type of destructive political activity In the United States, it would never be tolerated in China and would put American industry at a huge competitive disadvantage.Chinese fentanyl trade It has been a terrible curse for an entire generation of Americans, and Biden’s open borders have only facilitated that devastating plan.
America’s power should never be underestimated, but the biggest concern is that China do not have I underestimated them. Instead, the Chinese Communist Party is attacking cultural and economic weaknesses with devastating precision, one of which is a bloated political class perfectly represented by President Joe Biden.
