US DECOUPLING “IMPOSSIBLE”
Beijing is battling to shift towards a growth model propelled more by domestic demand than the traditional key drivers of infrastructure investment, manufacturing and exports.
That desired transformation has become more urgent since Donald Trump came to office.
The US president has imposed tariffs on China and most other major trading partners, upending trade norms and endangering Beijing’s exports at a time it needs them more than ever to stimulate economic activity.
The two superpowers have sought to de-escalate their row after reaching a framework for a deal at talks in London last month, but observers warn of lingering uncertainty.
Wang said on Friday that despite “storms and rain”, Washington remained an important trading partner.
Even though China-US trade has declined proportionally for each country, overall bilateral trade has remained stable, Wang said.
The firm economic and popular basis for US-China cooperation “makes artificial decoupling and severing supply chains impossible”, he said.
Yet an inconsistent tune has “severely impacted and disrupted normal trade cooperation between China and the US”.
Since Trump’s first term, “the trend of the trade frictions provoked by the US has had ups and downs”, Wang said.
