Zhang Yansheng: The key to winning the China-US trade war

On June 2, the State Council Information Office released a white paper on “China’s Position on the China-US Economic and Trade Negotiations”, which clarified the Chinese government’s position on the China-US economic and trade consultations. People’s Daily interviewed Zhang Yansheng, principal researcher of China Center for International Economic Exchanges and published an article with the title of “China will never give in on major principle.”

Zhang Yansheng believes that the white paper will help the international community to fully understand the truth of the trade war as it explains the impact of the China-US economic and trade frictions, the breach of promise of the US in the course of consultations, and China’s position.

He pointed out that the people of the world have witnessed that how the US went back on its word and the US government should be blamed for the thwarted China-US economic and trade consultations. The bullying practice of the US is unpopular and China can cope with challenges.

Zhang Yansheng believes that the trade bullying of the US is concentrated in three aspects: in terms of tariff, the US disregarded China’s resolute opposition and increased the tariff continuously; in terms of procurement, the US charges exorbitant prices despite the consensus reached by the heads of state of China and the US at the end of last year. Furthermore, the US interfered China’s sovereignty affair and did not show any respect.

The actions of the US are not only inconsistent with the consensus reached by the US and Chinese leaders, but also disappointed the people of the world. Furthermore, the US has overshadowed the bilateral economic and trade consultations and world economic growth. To defend its interests, China has no choice but to take counter-measures. Zhang Yansheng said that China has always adhered to the principles of equality, mutual benefit and integrity, and clearly expressed the willingness to cooperate and achieve a win-win outcome.

“The important thing is that we need to focus on what we are doing and do it well in the future,” said Zhang Yansheng. The US should be held accountable for the setback for the China-US economic and trade consultations because it has no willingness to reach a consensus. It is not reliable, only cares about its interests and disregards mutual respect. The current situation requires us to do our things well, which means we need to further deepen reform comprehensively, vigorously improve the new round of high-level opening-up, improve our international competitiveness, and unswervingly follow the path of high-quality development. Apart from that, we should work hard to improve our weak links, solve development bottlenecks, and realize the modernization of finance, energy and agriculture as soon as possible, so as to have a better position in the global supply chain, value chain and industrial chain.