Cont'd
"...In an exchange with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Oregon on President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed trade policies, Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick to helm the Treasury Department, pointed to the glut of cheap Chinese good flooding the world as an argument for hefty tariffs.
... “Clearly, what has happened is trade has not been fair and that has fallen on the American worker, and we cannot allow that,” Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee as part of his confirmation hearing for the top Treasury post.
“China is the most unbalanced economy in the history of the world. They are in a severe recession-slash-depression. ... They are attempting to export their way out of that,” he added. Bessent said, “We cannot allow a player like this flood our markets.”
For context: China’s economy has indeed slowed in recent years as consumers cut their spending and prices fell, key markers of a recession. But its economy has not technically contracted just yet. The Chinese economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.6% in the third quarter, according to the country’s statistics agency. ... Still, some economists have cast doubt on the accuracy of China’s official economic figures, largely due to local officials falsifying data, which the government has taken steps to address. Former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke has also pointed to the lack of transparency of China’s statistics agency."
