JMA-PSOS

Some senior officials in Canada say it’s time to repair trade relations with China, arguing US tariff policy is pushing them to deal with Asia’s largest economy.

Last year, the Canadian government put tariffs of 100% on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25% on steel and aluminum products, aligning with what the Biden administration had done. The move also protected [Ontario] Canada’s auto industry.

China struck back with retaliatory 100% tariffs on Canadian [Western provinces] canola oil and pea products, and a 25% levy on pork and seafood — a move that underscored the sharp deterioration in ties between Beijing and Ottawa in recent years.

One of the best articles I read on the China vs USA rivalry that puts it into context is a 2015 article in The Atlantic. The framing through Thucydides Trap alone is worth it (with pure gravy from the Belfer Center analysis of 16 global power changing of the guard in the past 500 years or Crowe's 1907 memorandum about the Germany economy overtaking England).

Thucydides chronicled objective changes in relative power, but he also focused on perceptions of change among the leaders of Athens and Sparta—and how this led each to strengthen alliances with other states in the hopes of counterbalancing the other. But entanglement runs both ways. When conflict broke out between the second-tier city-states of Corinth and Corcyra (now Corfu), Sparta felt it necessary to come to Corinth’s defense, which left Athens little choice but to back its ally. The Peloponnesian War followed. When it ended 30 years later, Sparta was the nominal victor. But both states lay in ruin, leaving Greece vulnerable to the Persians.

In 1980, China had 10 percent of America’s GDP as measured by purchasing power parity; 7 percent of its GDP at current U.S.-dollar exchange rates; and 6 percent of its exports. The foreign currency held by China, meanwhile, was just one-sixth the size of America’s reserves. The answers for the second column: By 2014, those figures were 101 percent of GDP; 60 percent at U.S.-dollar exchange rates; and 106 percent of exports. China’s reserves today are 28 times larger than America’s.