Reform key to tackling trade row

Trump wants to curb Chinese growth: expert

Given that the China-US trade tensions continue to escalate, China’s further reform and opening-up as well as its supply-side structural reform are key to helping the country win the prolonged battle, domestic financial news site 21jingji.com reported on Wednesday, citing experts.

From August 20 to Sunday, the US sent 350 firms to attend the hearing about the country imposing 25 percent tariffs on Chinese goods worth a total of $200 billon, with about 90 percent of the companies opposing the punitive trade measures, the report said.

Chen Wenling, an expert with the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), told a meeting that although most companies object, the US government is expected to insist on levying the duties anyway, according to the report.

Chen noted that negative US public opinion and attitudes of local companies are not enough to change US President Donald Trump’s mind, as he wants to curb China’s growth instead of considering potential losses the measures will inflict on American companies and people.

Wei Jianguo, vice chairman of the CCIEE, said that the China-US trade disputes will endure a prolonged process and China should prepare to face that in the long term, the report said.

Wei said that the US is not an opponent of China in terms of factors including economic resilience and flexibility, integrity degree of the industrial system and consumption potential. “But China must not feel optimistic and be careless about that,” Wei was quoted as saying.

There have been some pessimistic views regarding so-called outflows of foreign capital amid the ongoing trade row, which Wei said “were completely go against facts.”

For instance, South China’s Guangdong Province attracted 79 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) from foreign investment in the first half of this year, among which investment from the US increased 90.9 percent yearon-year, according to Wei.

Wei said that China should pay attention to preventing the US from destroying trade dispute settlement mechanisms under the WTO and preventing the US from forming global allies to confront China.

China should also make efforts to prevent the US from targeting other areas such as exchange rates and energy, Wei added.

Chen said that the Chinese government is expected to roll out policies such as tax cuts to increase domestic spending and uncertainty of Chinese companies brought about by the tensions.