Trust-building a top task for US, experts say

The key to safeguarding the achievements China and the United States have made in previous rounds of the trade negotiations lies in them recognizing that a trade war would hurt both and that resolving their trade disputes requires a constructive approach instead of shortsighted threats and tactics, experts said on Monday.

A brief statement of the Chinese position, published by Xinhua News Agency on Sunday after the latest China-US trade discussions, was seen as a sign that progress is being made as both sides sought to turn the consensus reached in the Washington talks into action.

Experts sensed a firm, consistent tone in the statement that China will continuously push reform and opening-up to resolve the trade issues with the US while emphasizing that the negotiations’ achievements will be effective only if both sides agree not to engage in trade war.

“Only by agreeing to this common ground can both sides truly implement the consensus reached in Washington,” said Tu Xinquan, director of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

The statement reflected China’s consistency with its policies, Tu said, including further liberalizing its markets and pushing high-quality development. But he noted that it did not mean China would make unconditional concessions if Washington adopts unilateral threats like tariff hikes.

Wang Zhi, director of Research Center of Global Value Chains at the University of International Business and Economics, agreed that a tariff war will hurt both sides’ economies and could disrupt the global trading system for years.

“If the US initiates a tariff war, the two countries’ economies will suffer. US consumer prices will rise, and many US companies that depend on trade with China will be hurt,” Wang said.

Wei Jianguo, former viceminister of commerce, said negotiations require sincerity and trust, and the US actions can effect whether agreements in the talks actually materialize.

“Since China continues to expand its US imports, the latter should quickly respond to issues like opening its manufacturing and service sectors to China and relaxing its controls on China’s high technology,” he said.

The Foreign Ministry, when asked about a following round of negotiations with the US, said on Monday China remains in principle open to trade talks.

The many rounds of China-US trade consultations indicated the increasing complexity and the longerthan-expected time it may take for both sides to resolve their trade disputes, economists said.

“We may still see more concessions and temporary agreements, but the trade negotiations will likely be more bumpy and longer than before,” said Wang Tao, chief China economist with UBS Securities.