U.S.-China Trade War so far; what brought us here?

Abstract

2018 was the year when the U.S.-China trade war officially transformed from being a ‘war of words’ to a war of actions. This paper focuses on three major areas; firstly. it talks about the causes behind this conflict; secondly, it shows a chronological timeline of this conflict; and finally, it talks about the consequences of this conflict. It has been found that over the past three decades, China has made unimaginable progress in the world market; which has begun to threaten U.S.’ global dominance. It was also found that U.S.A. has had a continuous trade deficit with China over the past several years; which reached its peak in 2017, when it fell to -$375.58. Trump administration authorized their first tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines; and remained hell-bent on fighting China; thus, kept on imposing tariffs on more Chinese imports throughout the year. However, their actions were swiftly & repeatedly repelled by an adamant Chinese government. Results showed that, one year into this conflict caused its participants around $2.9 billion, each. The U.S. agricultural sector probably suffered the worst blow, and was later subsidized by the government. However, the shockwave of this trade war was felt in almost every other sector in U.S.A. Chinese tech industry was severely affected as well. Millions of jobs in the U.S. are at risk of being obliviated as a result of this conflict. Has the worst already gone past, or is it still to come? No one knows for sure; however, there are signs which indicate that we might be moving toward a possible solution