China Retaliates against the United States with Tariffs; Russian Diplomatic Expulsions

Communist China retaliated earlier this week against the United States for the Trump Administration’s imposition of tariffs on certain Chinese imports by raising their own tariffs on American goods.  Tariffs, a tax on imports, increase the cost of the consumption of goods, thereby discouraging their consumption and thus limiting economic freedom.  There is growing concern about a trade war between the U.S. and other trading partners.

There was a coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats from the U.S., Canada and many European states in solidarity with the United Kingdom for the Russian Federation’s chemical attack on an ex-Russian spy for the British earlier this month that I had posted about.  The Russian diplomats were declared persona non grata for activities inconsistent with their diplomatic mission.  The U.S. expelled Russians from both their U.S. and United Nations missions.  The Russian Consulate in Seattle, Washington was closed.  However, there will be no reduction in the total number of Russian diplomats, as the Russians have reportedly been advised by the Trump Administration that the Russians will be permitted to replace the expelled diplomats. 

            A portion of most states’ diplomats are intelligence agents, but Russian delegations are disproportionately devoted to espionage.  It is one thing for diplomats to learn about conditions in the host country in order to inform their governments in policy-making decisions and another to engage in recruitment of spies and for diplomats to travel beyond their permitted ranges, as was the practice of the Russians.  Russian diplomats apparently had been mapping the American fiber optic cable network, for example.  

           The Russians have retaliated by expelling American diplomats, in the usual diplomatic tit-for-tat practice, and closing the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg.  They have also expelled European and Canadian diplomats.  Ambassadors between Russia and the other states have been summoned or recalled.