Tariffs on Chinese Goods Should Be 400%

Kevin O’Leary, a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful of “Shark Tank” fame, has a lot in common with President Donald Trump. Both are conservative. Both have built reputations as successful businessmen. And both leveraged those attributes into reality TV stardom.

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But, like most tycoons, O’Leary takes issue with Trump’s 145 percent tariffs on most Chinese imports. The twist: O’Leary doesn’t think they’re too high. He thinks they aren’t high enough, arguing that China has been ignoring the trade rules that other developed countries abide by. Here O’Leary lays out his case against China—and what the U.S. should do about it.

When President Bill Clinton welcomed China into the World Trade Organization in 2001, the idea was to hold them accountable. China was supposed to adhere to WTO rules, guaranteeing intellectual property rights and cooperating with American producers.

But they never complied. Not in the first week, and not in the 20th year of doing business.

The WTO should have kicked them out for noncompliance. Instead, it’s a given that the Chinese Communist Party had free rein to cheat and steal from other members. Partly that’s because the West was able to import cheap Chinese goods, even if their own companies were being put out of business. But it’s also because too many governments were intimidated by China. Now the WTO is wracked and stacked with grievances from the U.S. and other countries that have never been arbitrated, litigated, or resolved. Frankly, I don’t see the point of the WTO even existing if it can’t keep China in check.

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Let me give you a good example: steel dumping. The Chinese government intentionally subsidizes the overproduction of steel, flooding global markets with exports that China sells for below the cost of production. That is totally against the international rules of free trade. Producers in the United States, Europe, and Asia simply can’t compete, while China unfairly gains market share.

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