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SCIO briefing on China's position on economic and trade consultations with US

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Speaker:
Wang Shouwen, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, deputy China international trade representative

Chairperson:
Guo Weimin, vice minister of the State Council Information Office

Date:
June 2, 2019

Economic Daily:

The U.S. claimed that trade frictions has hurt China more than it has the U.S. What is your point of view on this? Thank you.

Wang Shouwen:

There will be no winners in a trade war. The measure of imposing tariffs taken by the U.S. on Chinese goods has not only affected China, but also taken a toll on the U.S. and the global economy.

I think the results from U.S. research are most convincing and compelling when it comes to assessing the impact of the trade restrictions on the U.S. For instance, the U.S. claims that because the U.S. suffers a huge trade deficit with China, the trade war could help narrow this deficit. The fact of the matter is that U.S. statistics last year showed that the U.S. goods trade deficit rose by 10.4 percent, the U.S. soybeans exports to China plunged by 50 percent, and the U.S. automobile exports to China decreased by more than 20 percent. It shows that the trade sanctions have hurt the interests of the U.S. workers and farmers. The sanctions have also hurt U.S. consumers as well. A report released by the International Monetary Fund found that the tariff revenue collected has been borne almost entirely by U.S. consumers. How much is that? A research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that every U.S. household has to pay $831 more as a result of the tariffs. The trade friction will also put pressure on U.S. employment. Trade Partnership, an U.S. based think tank, found in its research that if the U.S. increased tariffs on Chinese imported goods, the U.S. would lose 2.23 million jobs. The trade sanctions will hit the U.S. and the world economy as well. The trade friction has disrupted the global value chain, caused chaos in the trade order and dented confidence of investors across the world. A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development found that the global cross-border investment slipped in 2017 and 2018 by a two-digit rate. The trade friction caused by the U.S. has not only harmed consumers' confidence, but also the world economy. Thank you.