Tariffs on Chinese tires affect the global economy

Stuart Loory, Lee Hills Chair in Free-Press Studies, Missouri School of Journalism: Last week, President Obama declared an increase in tariffs on tires imported from China from about 4 percent to 35 percent. The Chinese reacted by upping the tariff on chicken meat and automobile parts from the United States. China is now the U.S.’s second largest trading partner after Canada, and it holds trillions of dollars in American treasury bills. This means that it supports the U.S. big time and could bring ruin to the American economy by cashing in on those bills. The U.S. dollar, the favorite denomination of international trade, is again sharply dropping, and economic improvement around the world is not constant. These tariff disputes present new complications as a group of 20 nations prepare to meet next week in Pittsburgh to discuss the world economy. The Chinese are being circumspect in their criticism of the U.S.; give us insight of what is going on from the Chinese point of view.