In the past year, China, based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and with the greatest sincerely, has carried out many rounds of high-level trade negotiation with the US and achieved positive results. However, the US Government, has repeatedly gone back on its own words and put extreme pressure on China in violation international law and the system of multilateral trade rules, thereby continuously escalating the trade friction between the two countries.  

Recently, the newspaper Legal Daily interviewed a number of legal experts, including Professor Liu Huawen, Deputy Director of CASS Institute of International Law, and Dr. Ren Hongda, an assistant research fellow at the Institute, on the escalation of trade friction between the US and China.

In the interview, Professor Liu Huawen pointed out that the root cause of the trade friction between the US and China is that the US persists in its own way, violates international law and, especially, the system of multilateral trade rules, places its domestic law above international law, applies international law when it suits its own needs, and abandons it when it does not, and use international law to restrain other countries, but not itself. These acts of unilateralism, bullying and protectionism have poisoned the atmosphere of US-China trade negotiation and are not conducive to the resolution of trade disputes between the two countries.

Dr. Ren Hongda pointed out that the US-China trade relation is the “ballast” and “propeller” of the relationship between the two countries. However, since it came to power, the Trump Administration has implemented the so-called “America First” policy and frequently started trade wars with its main trade partners, including China. Since the US unilaterally initiated the “301 Investigation” on China, the trade war between the US and China has been going on and off for some times. The Chinese Government, taking the well-being of the people of the two countries as the starting point, has always been trying to resolve the trade issues through negotiation. However, the US Government has repeatedly breached the consensus between the two countries and gone back on its own words. On August 1, 2019, Trump raised the tariff on 300 billion worth of Chinese imports by 10%, thereby seriously violating the consensus reached by the heads of two countries at the Osaka meeting. Later, on August 6, the US Ministry of Finance declared China a “currency manipulator” and has been continuously increasing the pressure on China, thus seriously endangering the sound development of the world economy. These US practices have seriously violated the non-discrimination principle of multilateral trade system and the tariff concession commitment it has made under WTO, as well as the TWO rules on protective measures, and infringed on China lawful rights and interests as a WTO member state.