On the evening of July 10th, RDCY Seminar Series was held in Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RDCY). He Weiwen, former Economic and Commercial Counselor at Chinese Consulates General in San Francisco and New York and senior fellow of RDCY, was invited to give a lecture themed “Sino-US trade war: thinking, experience and future under stalemate”. The lecture was moderated by Hu Haibin, Assistant to the Dean of RDCY and Chief Editor of Information Center, attracting more than 200 people participated.

Before the lecture, Wang Wen, dean of RDCY, gave a welcome address. Dean Wang Wen mentioned that the United States has ignited the largest trade war in economic history of the world on July 6th. For China, this is a trade war imposed by the Trump Administration of the United States and forced to take countermeasures. China has the confidence and determination to win the trade war.

Mr. He Weiwen introduced the current world situation firstly. He mentioned that in the past 4 months, the trade friction between China and the US has experienced 5 rounds of contradictions and negotiations, in which unpredictable though the US President Trump seems, the target that he tried to realize has never changed.

The trade negotiations are only the measures that Trump took to hit his real target - suppressing “Made in China 2025”, China's science and technology, and emerging industries; forcing China to obey US’ interests and makes concessions on issues; drastically reducing trade surplus with the US; protecting the US’ technological advantages;  in accordance with rules set by the US during the Sino-US trade and economic cooperation. Whether trade wars or negotiations are the means by which the United States implements its trade policy, we should have a clearly understanding and must not have any illusions, he said.

In the discussion, John Ross, senior fellow of RDCY, gave his comments. He expressed his strong approval for Chinese government position in responding to US trade actions. China's rational, well-stated and well-founded position has also been widely recognized at home and abroad. What best reflects China’s wisdom is that China takes reciprocal countermeasures against US trade practice, he said.

He said that the Trump Administration's substantial increase in tariffs will cause major economic obstacles, and the current tariffs have significantly increased the costs of US consumers. For example, Trump’s raised tariffs on imported washing machines, although mainly against South Korea, has increased the average price of laundry equipment by 17%. The Trump Administration’s tariff on Chinese products has a greater negative impact on goods prices of US and will also damp US exports.