US tariffs on Chinese imports palliative to address trade imbalance: US scholar

CHICAGO - The US government's latest plan to impose huge tariffs on imports from China is like palliative that does not solve the problem in the long run, said a US scholar on economics and trade.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a memorandum that could impose tariffs on up to $60 billion of imports from China and restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States.

Khairy Tourk, a professor with the Stuart School of Business of the Illinois Institute of Technology, said the Trump administration's decision to restrict Chinese investment would be restrictions for new jobs created in the United States.

"President Trump is calling for creating more jobs here, but now the action would work against his policy. So this is really negatively developed." Tourk told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Tourk believes the main issue is not tariff but the natural technology transfer, "many people here claim China is stealing American technology so they want to put restrictions on Chinese investment, that is definitely wrong."

On the other hand, Tourk said the US government believes that tariff is a useful tool to bring balance in the United States and China trade relationship, but it is not the main cause, "We in the US are not saving enough, so we have to import resources and products achieving from overseas; this is the truth."

Tourk holds that policy makers here are lack of long term vision. "The best way to improve the American economy is to increase productivity, but this takes a lot of time, so it is easy for politicians to take some palliative (actions), but it does not heal the real cause of the problem."