PARIS, April 7 (Xinhua) -- As a unilateral U.S. tariff move against China is disturbing the world, a French expert said U.S. President Donald Trump should be in agreement with China since the two economies are interdependent.
"The economies are too interdependent," said Jean Francois Di Meglio, president of the French think tank Asia Centre, in an interview with Xinhua.
The expert further said Trump "cannot allow himself not to have an agreement with China."
Earlier this week, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) proposed to impose an additional 25 percent tariff on 50 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China. It was followed by Trump saying on Thursday that he has asked the USTR to consider slapping additional tariffs on Chinese products worth 100 billion dollars.
Responding to this, China said it is fully prepared and will not hesitate to strike back fiercely.
The friction between the world's top two economies has jittered the market with U.S. stocks plunged on Friday.
Meglio, however, is sceptical of the possibility of a full trade war between the two economic powers.
"The scenario of a total trade war, with an increase in customs tariffs and a drop in international trade, I don't believe it will happen," he said.
He reckons that multiple motives are behind Trump's tariff actions, internally and externally. First of all is the Senate elections this year.
"The American president is very divisive, he works a lot with ruptures. What interests him, it's to maintain his constituency and for that, please it. Even more so since very important Senate elections are in the crosshairs. He's doing, therefore, what he promised to his supporters: which is to say, to make a caricature, make a trade war with China," he said.
Meglio believes the domestic objective is added with the economic and world governance objectives.
"The philosophy of Donald Trump is completely different than that which prevailed until now," said Meglio.
But in the eyes of the French expert, the United States has another strategic intention. They "do not want to lose their technological advantage," he said.
"I think he wants China to change their sources of imported energy. He also wants to obtain from American companies a repatriation of production centers towards the United States and to redefine the contours of trade exchanges," he said.
