A welcome pause in U.S.-China trade dispute

It is good news for the world economy and markets that the heads of state of China and the United States had a constructive meeting and dinner on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Argentina. There they reached a consensus of agreement on two issues, one of which was to stop imposing additional tariffs for 90 days. This has relieved anxiety about economic growth and market stability in the globe’s two largest economies as well as in the whole world.

As part of my consular duties, I have visited California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state and Alaska since being assigned to this post in August. Many Americans I have had the pleasure of talking with have expressed hope that the trade conflict could come quickly to an end and avoid further harms to U.S. companies from tariffs.

It is in the interests of both sides to settle their differences, as they are economically intertwined.

In 2017, for instance, more than 50 million iPhones were sold in mainland China, bringing the number of iPhone users there to more than 300 million, nearly the size of the entire U.S. population.

Nike Inc.’s revenue growth in China surged 21 percent in fiscal year 2018 to $5.13 billion, accounting for 14 percent of its total sales globally. But the tariffs imposed have inflicted enormous pain on both sides.

Happily, the Buenos Aires meeting made it possible for the U.S. companies to continue reaping extensive economic benefits from the opportunities generated by China’s growth.

China, with the population of 1.39 billion people, is one of the largest markets in the world. It is predicted that in the coming 15 years, China will import $30 trillion goods and $10 trillion services, which means enormous opportunities for her trading partners, including the United States.

The American people on the West Coast aspire to cooperation, which is echoed in the resolution the California Assembly passed on Aug. 30 with overwhelming support, calling for greater efforts to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with China in the areas of people-to-people exchange, trade, climate change, education, tourism, technology, innovation and green development.

It is only natural for trading partners to have differences and even frictions. But as long as we work together, there is hope to find solutions to our differences.

The 40th U.S. president, Ronald Reagan, said, “Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with conflict by peaceful means.” A pause in raising tariff barriers is a step in the right direction. Given the complexity of the trade conflict between the two countries, all the areas of dispute are not expected to be resolved overnight. However, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Wang Donghua is the consul general of the People’s Republic of China to San Francisco.