The 12th U.S.-China CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue Held Online

On January 29, 2021, the 12^th meeting of U.S.-China CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue was held online. Participants from both sides conducted discussions under the theme of “Prospect for U.S.-China Economic and Trade Relations under the New Situation: Getting Back on Track to Achieve Win-win Results”. Zeng Peiyan, Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges(CCIEE), and Thomas J. Donohue, CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce(USCC ) delivered their speeches. More than 30 Chinese and American business leaders, former government officials and well-known scholars attended the meeting.

The Chinese representatives believe that in the past 2020, mankind suffered from the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the world was faced with the worst economic recession since World War II, investment and trade continued to be sluggish, and serious financial risks emerged. Many countries have adopted various rescue measures, but the recovery of the world economy still face great uncertainties. In the past four years, the Trump administration pursued the “America First” policy, promoted unilateralism and trade protectionism, and always tried to suppress China. The U.S.-China relations have fallen into an unprecedented predicament, the economic and trade relations between the two countries and the global economy have been seriously damaged.

The Chinese representatives said that the inauguration of President Biden implies a new starting point for U.S.-China relations. The business communities from both sides should work together to bring the U.S.- China economic and trade relations back on track, so that they can become the “ballast stone” and “Stabilizer” of the bilateral relations. China and the U.S. should restore the dialogue and exchange mechanism at all levels and use them as the basic channel to resolve problems on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Furthermore, the two sides should evaluate the “U.S.-China Phase One Economic and Trade Agreement comprehensively and objectively, launch a new round of economic and trade negotiations, abolish high tariffs imposed on each other since the trade war, remove unreasonable investment restrictions, create a fair, just and open business environment, and restart the U.S.- China BIT negotiations. They should strengthen the coordination of macroeconomic policies to promote a stable recovery of the world economy, improve the rules-based multilateral trading system, advance WTO modernization reforms, and expand bilateral cooperation, including pandemic prevention and control, health care, carbon neutrality, new energy, climate change, green finance and so on. China and the United States should act as responsible major countries to promote the healthy development of bilateral relations and benefit the world as a whole.

The U.S. representatives stated that the U.S.-China relationships are the most important bilateral relationship in the world. The two sides have extensive common interests in the economic and trade field. A healthy and stable bilateral economic and trade relation is the foundation of the U.S.-China cooperation. The United States and China should abandon the Cold War mentality and “zero-sum mentality”, enhance strategic mutual trust through equal consultation, resolve trade disputes, and make full use of the complementarity of bilateral cooperation to improve U.S.-China economic and trade relations. They are willing to bring the U.S.-China economic and trade relations back to normal and promote economic globalization and world stability and prosperity.

The U.S.-China CEO and Former Senior Officials’ Dialogue is jointly organized by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 11 meetings have been held in Beijing and Washington since 2011.