It’s Time to Hit China Where It Hurts: Its Pollution

President Donald Trump has fundamentally shifted the Republican Party’s economic thinking toward tariffs and trade policy. Reshaping the world economy and global trade has already produced massive victories for the United States, ranging from an expected $300 billion raised for tariffs to a slate of trade deals.

But the tariffs have given America something else: an economic weapon with which to combat the People’s Republic of China, our main adversary. We should creatively use these new tools by hitting the country with a tariff on its abysmal environmental standards, which act as an inherent subsidy for cheap exports.

To be clear, the Trump administration has already taken clear action against China. While the Chinese Communist Party would like to have Americans think otherwise, the administration’s tariffs are already taking a bite out of their economy. Manufacturing is slowing down, as have construction projects. This isn’t a surprise: China’s entire economic strategy over the past 30 years has been built on taking America for a ride. Now that America is prioritizing the needs of its own people — rather than focusing on getting them the cheapest plastic toys possible — the CCP does not know how to respond.

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