The White House's decision to "implement a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods from China that contain industrially significant technologies", made on Friday, is a stark violation of the core spirit of recent trade talks between China and the US and is set to backfire if Washington doesn't back off from its dangerous adventurism.
The two sides have achieved substantial results in the recent rounds of dialogue in Washington and Beijing and there have been constructive signs of improving trade relations despite the difficulty to entirely iron out their trade differences in the short term.
By issuing the statement of tariff imposition on Friday, however, the Donald Trump administration has once again proved inconsistent and precarious, which will become a major hurdle as the world's two largest economies interact with each other to build a new-type of trade relations.
The US' unilateralism has been visible at the recent G7 meeting in Canada and has become a factor of uncertainty for the global efforts to restore global trade order and fight protectionism.
What the US should bear in mind is that its unilateral moves will lead to nothing but resolute fighting back from its trade partners, including China.
Given the frequent flip-flopping of the Donald Trump administration, it is still too early to conclude that a trade war will start. But China's stance has been consistent: It welcomes dialogue and is not afraid of trade war threats.
China has made it clear that it will take "immediate" tariff measures of "equal scale and strength" right after the statement by the White House was released. Washington should not underestimate China's resoluteness in safeguarding its core interest.
The US side should be responsible if, as China has said, all economic and trade outcomes of previous talks fail to take effect thanks to the US' latest decision to impose tariffs on Chinese goods.
China as the world's second-largest economy and the largest consumer market has announced and will take substantial moves to further open its economy, which will provide opportunities of development for all other countries, including the US. It will be regrettable if the US companies and workers fail to benefit from China's economic liberalization moves due to Washington's refusal to cast away its adventurism.
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