Current Event - Free and Fair Trade or Budgetary Issue Social Essay
Instructions
For this assignment, respond to one of the following options:
Option 1: Find a recent article (less than one month old) from a reputable news source concerning a Free and Fair Trade issue between at least two countries.
Summarize the article.
What is the issue?
Explain why this issue is important to the global community.
Evaluate the source.
What is your opinion?
Option 2: Find a recent article (less than one month old) from a reputable news source concerning a proposed budgetary change.
Summarize the article.
What is the issue?
Explain who is affected most from the change?
Evaluate the source.
What is your opinion?
Writing Requirements (APA format). Refer to the APA manual.
Length: 3 full pages (not including the title or references page)
1-inch margins
Double-Spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
Title and Reference page required
APA cite article with link
Scan copy of article required
Students’ Name:
University Affiliation: Course:
Date of Submission:
Article: U.S. Places Restrictions on China’s Leading Chip Maker
Free trade is an agreement pact involving several nations to cut on restrictions to imports and exports. Under free trade policy, goods and services are shipped freely across intercontinental boundaries with the least administrative restrictions, tariffs, and prohibitions that inhibit exchange. Fair trade focuses on the working conditions, employees’ welfare, and seeks to eliminate pay disparities in a country. For instance, economists in the United States, under Trump’s leadership, have witnessed several scenarios that involve free and fair trade. The American government has repeatedly imposed the barriers as either a weapon for its’ domestic industries or as ‘punishment’ for the COVID-19 pandemic that ignited tension between China and the United States (Swanson & Zhong, 2020). The mutual blame between President Donald Trump and Chinas Xi Jinping threatened to break the fragile truce in free and fair trade amidst the worst pandemic of all time despite being the world’s biggest economies.
The article by the New York Times published by Ann Swanson and Raymond Zhong illustrates the restrictions placed on China’s leading chip manufacturer, SMIC (Swanson & Zhong, 2020). The semiconductor manufacturing company based in Shanghai, China, churns the largest share of the world’s cellphones, internet, computers, and electronic equipment (Verwey, 2019). According to the article, the current government restricts exports to the semiconductor manufacturing company ahead of the November general elections. The administration disseminated letters to American companies involved in Chip manufacturing to put their processes on hold and seek licensure to sell their products to SMIC and their subsidiaries (Swanson & McCabe, 2020). The measure will curtail China’s ability to manufacture software and other technology equipment and lower their economic position.
The restrictions came after a supposed review by the Trump administration that the semiconductors may pose an unacceptable risk to China’s citizens if the products are diverted to military use (Swanson & Zhong, 2020). They also made a harsh stance to the American chip manufacturers to obtain licensure for their manufacturing practices, especially those dealing with exports to SMIC. Chinese technology may also be deemed as a global threat. The restriction also comes after the recent clamp down of China’s giant technology Huawei and blacklisting other Chinese-owned social media services such as TikTok and WeChat (Swanson & Zhong, 2020). The sudden and severe move by the United States in imposing...