A few days ago, U.S. Trade Representative Dai Qi claimed that the U.S. is not ready to remove tariffs on Chinese imports in the near future, but may be open to trade negotiations with China. She also admitted that tariffs will cause losses to U.S. companies and consumers. . At the same time, the Chongyang Institute of Finance of Renmin University of China, a domestic think tank, recently released a research report titled "No Error Correction, Failure: Biden Administration's evaluation and Prospects of China's Economic and Trade Policies-Multilateralism Governing Sino-US Economics and Trade". Practicing multilateralism can contribute to mutual benefit and win-win economics and trade between China and the United States, and put forward China's countermeasures.
The report recalled that the four years of Trump’s administration were the four years in which the United States unilaterally launched the largest trade war against China in history, and it has been frantically suppressing China in all aspects such as technology and investment. The Trump administration's imposing unilateral tariffs on an unprecedented scale, implementing a technology embargo policy, and stepping up the "clean network plan" have caused a major impact on Sino-US trade and mutual investment.
According to China Customs statistics, the bilateral trade volume between China and the United States fluctuates. In 2017, the bilateral trade volume between China and the United States reached 583.70 billion U.S. dollars, and in 2018 it reached 633.52 billion U.S. dollars. In 2019, the bilateral trade volume was 541.223 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 14.6% from the previous year. Due to the outbreak of the epidemic in the first quarter of 2020, the volume of Sino-US trade droped sharply. However, there has been a significant rebound since the second quarter, and even more rapid growth in the second half of the year. The annual bilateral trade volume reached 588.71 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 8.8% over 2019.
The report pointed out that the US has abused the name of national security and imposed strict restrictions on investment from China. On the contrary, China continues to open its doors and expand its opening up, and US investment in China remains stable. In 2017, when Trump assumed the presidency, China’s direct investment in the United States plummeted by 62.1% from the previous year to US$6.426 billion; in 2018, it rose slightly to US$7.477 billion. But in 2019 it was only 3.809 billion U.S. dollars. Conversely, US direct investment in China remained stable. The figures for the three years from 2017 to 2019 are almost the same.
Regarding China's economic and trade policies, the report analyzes that the Biden administration maintained the tough stance of the previous administration, and as a whole continued all the bans or restrictions on China by the previous administration. At the same time, there are differences: the Biden administration focuses on the overall “remediation” of the rules and the system, rather than the simple and rudeness of the previous administration; it focuses on gangs with allies, which is essentially still expanded unilateralism; it proposes to have a relationship with China. The cooperative side.
To this end, the report puts forward the following recommendations in promoting multilateralism:
One is that in bilateral relations, use two hands against two hands, and both hands must be hard. If the United States comes up with "tools," it will not hesitate to counteract it hard; adhere to the concept of "two Americas", strictly distinguish the U.S. federal government from the U.S. local government, the business community, and the general public, and make every effort to differentiate itself from the latter. Promote cooperation.
The second is to uphold multilateralism with the UN Charter at its core and uphold the five principles of Sino-US peaceful coexistence. The biggest question between China and the United States is whether the United States recognizes the core of multilateralism established by itself after the war, that is, the seven basic principles on which the UN Charter is based.
The third is to bring Sino-US economic and trade rule disputes under the jurisdiction of WTO rules and return to the multilateral system of global free trade. Both China and the United States are members of the WTO, and both have signed on the WTO rules system, so that the negotiations between China and the United States involving trade rules can be incorporated into the WTO multilateral framework, and the issues can be negotiated and clarified on an equal footing in accordance with relevant WTO rules.
Fourth, multilateral cooperation is used to hedge the risk of US suppression. In response to the United States’ trade tariffs, other trade restrictions, and various technological and investment restrictions under the pretext of national security, my country should strive to manage bilateral differences and obstacles, and actively strive for cooperation with the United States, the business community, and the scientific and technological community. Focus on the supply chain around the world and strive for all possible cooperation. In key areas, it is based on its own scientific and technological innovation, rapid technological upgrading and research on key components.
Fifth, we will lay out my country's global trade and investment map in an all-round way, and reduce the degree of relevance to the United States. Put trade with Asia first, steadily expand trade with other Asian countries and regions; strive to stabilize and expand trade between China and Europe, and accelerate the increase in the proportion of trade among countries along the “Belt and Road”; actively participate in global governance to a greater extent , In the G20, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other multilateral institutions to provide more Chinese support and China’s contribution, more participation in the formulation of multilateral rules, and a more stable multilateral guarantee for my country’s economic development .
The report concluded that Trump’s economic and trade policies towards China violated objective laws, violated multilateral rules, violated objective facts, and harmed the self-interest of the American people. Therefore, they must fail. China very much hopes that China-US economic and trade will return to the track of cooperation, and will make every effort to maintain and expand cooperation in many aspects. The wise approach of the Biden administration is to correct the mistakes of the previous administration and return to the right track of multilateralism. In this way, the people of China and the United States will benefit, and the world will also benefit.
Source: China Trade News
