American trade bullying puts global growth at risk

WASHINGTON’S recent decision to impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods has further exposed it as a trade bully.

The move has triggered anxiety in the international community that the global economy might be severely impacted.

According to Morgan Stanley analysis, if the US imposes 25 per cent tariffs on US$300 billion worth of imports from China, global growth will dip below 2.5 percent. Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, believes that Washington’s strategy of using tariffs as a weapon will increase global trade barriers and reduce trade volume.

It will also set a negative example, lead to vicious competition and eventually drag the global economy into a quagmire.

Certain people in the US have undermined multilateral trade rules, threatened the security of the global industrial supply chain, triggered turbulence in international financial market, and dragged down international trade and world economic growth.

Spectre of worldwide recession

Their arbitrary practices are against the trend of economic globalization, contrary to the principle of market competition, and have significantly increased the risk of global recession.

As the world’s economic pattern is becoming increasingly intertwined, any attempt to decouple economies and create confrontation through protectionist and unilateral practices is impractical, and doomed to fail. A tiny screw illustrates this point. According to the New York Times, Apple Inc tried to manufacture a batch of top-of-the-line computers in Texas, but ended up struggling to find enough screws.

More and more insightful people are pointing out that the immoral, irresponsible and irrational behavior of some Americans have seriously damaged market confidence and caused chaos in the international financial market.

The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization have warned that if the trade war continues, it will exert greater impact on the global economy. At the recent G7 summit, leaders of France, Germany, the UK and other countries expressed deep concerns about the US provoking economic and trade frictions.

European Council President Donald Tusk said escalating trade tensions between the US and other countries risk throwing the world into recession.

In today’s world, it is an irresistible historical trend that multilateralism and win-win cooperation will replace unilateralism and zero-sum game.

Confronting this trend with an outdated mentality not only harms the interests of both China and the US, but also undermines the common interests of all countries in the world.

Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by People’s Daily to express its views on foreign policy. Copyright: People’s Daily.