The position of the People's Republic of China in the trade war with the United States (2018 - present)

Since 2018, the relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America have been a large, unpredictably developing conflict in the decisive spheres of the economics and politics. The purpose of this work is to study and characterize the position of the People’s Republic of China regarding the United States during the Trade War. To achieve this goal, an analysis of statements by representatives of the PRC leadership, as well as officially published documents is being made. In the course of the conflict, both sides exchanged mutual accusations on several occasions. In particular, the United States accused China of using “unfair” trade practices that hurt the economic partnership between the two countries, forcing US companies to transfer technology and systematical violation of intellectual property rights. One of the main reasons for American concerns about China for a long time has been the growing trade imbalance. An analysis of the White papers officially published by the People’s Republic of China in 2018 and 2019 on the issue of the conflict under consideration allows us to build an understanding of the specific position of the PRC leadership on each of the existing difficulties. One of the main features of China’s position in the conflict is clearly distinguished - a peculiar “reflection” of American allegations by reasoned argumentation on each of the problems. Thus, for example, one of the key stumbling blocks in reaching an agreement between the two states - the size of the US trade deficit in relations with China - is considered. This indicator reached 316.68 billion US dollars in 2013, and in 2018 it was already 419.16 billion. There is a tendency of widening of the gap in the size of the difference between exports and imports of the United States, which quite rightly causes the administration’s concern. However, from the Chinese point of view, in the context of relations between the two states, a detailed examination of this indicator does not make sense, since there are a number of reasons for the long existence of this problem, and its complete solution requires a detailed joint work in order to restructure the entire system of economic relations between the two countries. Moreover, in addition to counteracting attacks from the United States, the leadership of the People’s Republic of China also presses its own charges. Most of the information presented in the 2019 White Paper describes China’s stance on US-China trade friction. It is important to note that China accuses America of causing harm not only to two countries as direct participants in the Trade War, but also pays attention to the global consequences, thus taking the conflict beyond the framework of interstate disagreements. The article also draws the conclusion about the main features of China’s position in the context of the Trade War with the United States.

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