U.S. President Donald Trump has cut aid to China by more than half in 2020; from $62 million in 2019 to $30 million in 2020, according to a U.S. government report, media reports said.
A Jan. 15 exclusive report in British media outlet The Spectator said President Trump has cut aid to China by 52 percent in the past year, according to a White House Office of Management and Budget report obtained exclusively by the magazine.
The report by the White House budget office provides a comprehensive picture of U.S. government spending on aid to China. The Spectator reports that this is the first time the U.S. government has released such a report to the public. In a letter to Senator Scott, Budget Office Director Russ Waters said, “I believe this report is critical because we are stopping American taxpayer dollars from being used to support America’s strategic adversaries.”
The report, released by the White House, shows a reduction in U.S. aid to China from $62 million in fiscal year 2019 to $30 million in fiscal year 2020. U.S. spending on strategic competition with China, meanwhile, jumped from $42.4 billion to $47.5 billion, a 12 percent increase. In addition, the U.S. has imposed $60 billion worth of tariffs on imported Chinese goods.
According to this report, several aid to China programs have been significantly reduced in spending or stopped altogether during the Trump administration.
For example, in 2019, the Export-Import Bank of the United States provided $11 million in financing guarantees for Chinese deals. And in 2020, the agency did not provide any such services.
In addition, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency ended its operations in China, cutting $2 million worth of investments in Chinese infrastructure projects. The U.S. also ended its Peace Corps program in China following the outbreak of the New Coronavirus pandemic.
The comprehensive administration report, released as Trump enters the final days of his presidency, highlights the Trump administration’s efforts to thwart the Chinese Communist Party’s growing influence in the U.S. and global markets by imposing tough economic policies on China, said a report in the U.S. media outlet Washington Free Beacon newspaper.
Trump proposed an economic policy against China back in his 2016 campaign, arguing that Beijing has taken advantage of Americans through trade imbalances and manipulating the value of its currency. After the outbreak of the new coronavirus epidemic last year, Trump has increased efforts to curb Beijing’s influence on global politics and markets.
Trump has also imposed additional sanctions on companies with ties to the Chinese military and has taken steps to curb China’s influence at the United Nations, such as announcing that the United States will withdraw from the World health Organization on July 1 of this year.
In the area of culture and education, the Trump administration has also cracked down on China’s Communist Party-backed “Confucius Institute” program, which disseminates and promotes Chinese government views on U.S. college campuses. Many U.S. universities have stopped or eliminated their “Confucius Institutes.
Last week, Trump imposed sanctions against two Chinese apps, fearing that Communist Party officials may have used them to collect data on Americans, including federal employees.
President-elect Joe Biden, who will take office this Wednesday, has criticized Trump’s trade war against China. However, if Biden takes a softer stance toward Beijing when he takes office, he could face unanimous bipartisan pressure in Congress.
Members of Congress from both parties are generally seen as supporting the imposition of economic measures against Beijing, punishing China for human rights abuses and cracking down on the communist regime’s growing influence abroad.
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