Trump should expand tariffs on China

OPINION:

What do the leaders of China, Iran and Russia have in common? They are all dictators, is the easy answer, and are stated adversaries of the United States. They are also three of the world’s top polluters, accounting for nearly 40% of the world’s total emissions.

With China’s manufacturing and continued expansion of coal power plants, Russia’s oil refineries and Iran’s fossil fuel industry, the three nations seemingly have international impunity and immunity as they use their unregulated, pollution-heavy industries to manipulate global trade and fund their war machines.

Ironically, Europe’s environmental policies have benefited these polluters. The continent has become dependent on them for energy and manufacturing. By embracing energy austerity, Europe has enriched its enemies while failing to reduce global emissions.

Markets such as the United States, meanwhile, have used innovation, technology and fair labor practices to significantly decrease their environmental footprint over the past 25 years. Despite this, we have paid a high price, with the ultimate loser being the American consumer. This disparity in standards has allowed China to flood the global market with low-quality, high-pollution products, weakening American industry and the American marketplace in the process.

That trade imbalance and the collected income variance have allowed all three countries to use the extra revenue to wage war (Russia), pursue a nuclear arsenal (Iran) and surge a national military industrial base that is rapidly outpacing that of the United States (China).

At this point, none of the three countries’ leaders is even attempting to hide his contempt for President Trump and the United States. Last month, Chinese President Xi Jinping was photographed proudly flanked by Russian ruler Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Mr. Xi proclaimed that day: “The Chinese nation is a great nation that is never intimidated by any bullies and always values independence and forges ahead.”

Mr. Trump rightly accused the gathered leaders in Beijing of “conspiring against the United States.”

Despite the administration’s numerous attempts to offer Mr. Xi and China a fair trade deal, China’s continued snubbing — indeed, its flaunting — of Mr. Trump underscores that only the United States has been negotiating in good faith these past seven months.

It is time for Mr. Trump to get tougher and demonstrate that the world’s largest economy, the United States, has no plans to cede its No. 1 standing to China or any other nation.

China’s latest export controls, announced this past week, threaten to dismantle global supply chains and cripple the United States. Coercive measures related to rare earth elements and critical mineral export controls, coupled with the Chinese Communist Party’s new “national security” laws, mean delivery of such materials has all but stopped.

These minerals, critical to U.S. defense and other industries such as car manufacturing, have forced U.S. companies to reevaluate and reroute supply chains. This has caused production delays costing tens of millions of dollars, if not more, and increased costs to millions of Americans.

China is waging economic warfare and processing rare earth elements and critical minerals such as samarium, terbium and yttrium, which directly contribute more than 15% of China’s emissions. The processing also adds insult to injury, as downstream pollution reaches innocent lives in neighboring countries and may soon reach America’s shores.

That’s why a pollution tariff is the solution to ensure that China is punished for its abuse of the international order and to solidify Mr. Trump’s promise to put American consumers first.

Mr. Xi remarked during his celebration over aggression that “might may rule the moment, but right prevails forever.” Mr. Trump is the leader in the right, and it’s long past time to remind Mr. Xi of that.

• Amy K. Mitchell is a former senior official at the departments of State and Defense.