There Is No Winner In Trade Wars: Seeking Common Ground While Reserving Differences Is A Key Step In Sino US Consultations.

Today is the Mid Autumn Festival of China in the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

During the Mid Autumn Festival a year ago, the US side upgraded the Sino US economic and trade frictions and imposed a 10% tariff on 200 billion US dollars in China's exports to the United States. The Chinese side resolutely counteracted and imposed tariffs on imported goods originating in the United States of about $60 billion.

From that time to the present, Sino US "talk about beating, fighting and talking" has both a confrontation and a relaxation of goodwill, and the global market has been ups and downs because of the unprecedented trend of trade friction.

These two days, with the thirteenth round of Sino US economic and trade high-level consultations approaching, the situation has further eased since the September 5th China US led talks.

First of all, the signs of mutual goodwill between China and the United States are more and more obvious.

"In the evening of September 11th local time, President Trump issued a message in social media that, taking into account the requirements of the Chinese side and People's Republic of China's celebration of the establishment of 70th anniversary in October 1st, the US side" as a gesture of goodwill "will raise tariffs on 250 billion US dollars in China's exports to the United States from October 1st to October 15th.

China has responded positively to this.

Vice Premier Liu He met with Greenberg, chairman of the board of directors of the US China Trade Commission 12 days ago. He said that the US side just announced that it would postpone adding tariffs in October 1st, and China welcomes it.

China's Ministry of commerce also answered relevant questions at a regular press conference in September 12th.

"We welcome the goodwill action released by the US side... Chinese enterprises have begun to make inquiries about the purchase of US agricultural products, and soybeans and pork are all in the inquiry price range."

"We hope that both sides will continue to act together and take practical actions to create favorable conditions for consultations. This is good for both China and the United States as well as for the whole world. "

On the day of the Mid Autumn Festival, China announced that the new US agricultural product procurement should be subject to tariff elimination.

Xinhua news agency, Beijing, September, 13 Reporters learned from the relevant departments of the national development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce. Recently, the US side has decided to make adjustments to the tariff measures added to China's exports to the United States to be implemented in October 1st. China supports relevant enterprises to purchase a certain quantity of soybeans, pork and other agricultural products from the United States from now on according to the principles of marketization and the WTO rules, and the State Council Tariff Commission will increase the above purchases. Exclusion of duties. The Chinese authorities said that the market capacity of China is large, and the prospects for importing high-quality agricultural products in the United States are broad. We hope that the US dialect will have faith and fulfil its commitments, and create favorable conditions for cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture.

It should be noted that the "goodwill" of the US side is a delay rather than a complete cessation of tariffs on China. But this is a positive signal for breaking the current stalemate. The continuous release of goodwill between China and the United States is also conducive to further "icebreaking" for Sino US consultations.

Secondly, from the information revealed by the two sides, we are prepared to be more pragmatic in this round of negotiations.

When Vice Premier Liu He met with Chairman Greenberg of the board of directors of the US China Trade Commission, he revealed some information about the work level consultation.

"The whole world is looking forward to the progress of Sino US consultations, and the two sides will meet next week to conduct serious exchanges around the issues of common concern, such as trade balance, market access, investor protection and so on."

The Chinese side announced the relevant issues ahead of schedule before consultation, which is very rare. The work consultation will start next week. It seems that the Mid Autumn Festival will have to work overtime again.

There are also a lot of dry goods released by the US side.

"CNBC12 reported that when President Trump was preparing to leave for Baltimore on Thursday, he hinted that he would consider a temporary trade agreement with China, though he was more inclined to reach a comprehensive trade agreement."

Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, said in an interview with CNBC on 12 th that the main concerns of the US are intellectual property rights, compulsory joint ventures and fair trade competition environment.

"The Wall Street Journal reported on the 12 day that China is seeking to narrow the scope of the US negotiations to only trade matters, and to put the thorny national security affairs on different tracks to break the stalemate in trade negotiations with the United States."

From these information, both sides intend to concentrate on advancing this round of consultations.

In consultation with the "ice" has not yet been completely broken, and the confrontation between China and the United States has not been completely alleviated, such a temporary shelved dispute to seek the greatest consensus is undoubtedly more pragmatic.

This practice has been effective since the normalization of Sino US relations more than 40 years ago.

We call it "seeking common ground while reserving differences".

Third, whether Sino US consultations can "break the ice" and seek common ground while reserving differences is a key step.

From the Mid Autumn Festival to the Mid Autumn Festival, from a sword to a few times, more than a year to talk about fighting, the Sino US, especially the different choices of the United States, gives us a very different prospect.

If we continue to ask for a high price and limit the pressure, we will inevitably lead to China's resolute opposition. Continuing, the only consequence of the escalating trade war is to bring more negative impacts to China and the United States and even the whole world.

If the US side is more aware of the fact that there is no winner in the trade war, and with a calm attitude and on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and through consultation and cooperation with China to solve the problem, then the long-lasting trade friction will never find a substantive solution.

Now we are at the crossroads of choice. The key to Sino US consultation is to seek common ground while reserving differences.

The two road leads to two different prospects.

Whether we can achieve common ground while reserving differences is the time to test the wisdom and patience of both sides.