The Us China Trade Dispute

As China continues its rise as a great power, The United States Congress and the administration wrestle with one another over the strategies to shape US-China economic relations. What major disputes now, and looming on the horizon, will shape future US-China relations? This book examines these issues and offers suggestions for both sides.

'Imad Moosa reminds us that there are at least two sides to a relationship – including those in trade – and that failure of a relationship is rarely due to one side alone. Moosa handles the technicalities of exchange rates dexterously but reminds us constantly of the wider context of the trade relationships that determine them.' – Paul Rule, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia Dealing with a topic that has attracted significant media attention, this highly accessible book provides a detailed analysis of the trade dispute between China and the US. While the Americans accuse China of damaging their economy, the Chinese claim their policies are legitimate and that the US has no right to dictate how the Chinese economy should be run. Imad Moosa addresses contentious issues including: whether the Chinese currency is undervalued, whether the undervaluation of the yuan, should it exist, is the cause of the US trade deficit with China (hence revaluation being a justifiable cure) and whether Chinese economic policies are immoral and illegal according to IMF and WTO rules. This challenging and thought provoking book will prove a stimulating read for academics, researchers, students and policymakers with an interest in international economics, international finance, political economy and Asian studies.

China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001 was heralded as historic, and for good reason: the world's most populous nation was joining the rule-based system that has governed international commerce since World War II. But the full ramifications of that event are only now becoming apparent, as the Chinese economic juggernaut has evolved in unanticipated and profoundly troublesome ways. In this book, journalist Paul Blustein chronicles the contentious process resulting in China's WTO membership and the transformative changes that followed, both good and bad - for China, for its trading partners, and for the global trading system as a whole. The book recounts how China opened its markets and underwent far-reaching reforms that fuelled its economic takeoff, but then adopted policies - a cheap currency and heavy-handed state intervention - that unfairly disadvantaged foreign competitors and circumvented WTO rules. Events took a potentially catastrophic turn in 2018 with the eruption of a trade war between China and the United States, which has brought the trading system to a breaking point. Regardless of how the latest confrontation unfolds, the world will be grappling for decades with the challenges posed by China Inc.

Outright trade war between the world’s two largest economies would be devastating to the working people of both countries, as well as destructive to the future of the entire world economy. The costs of conflict between China and the United States far outweigh the current causes of dispute in their economic relationship. These costs would be both direct, in terms of short-term losses of growth and employment, and indirect, in terms of long-term damage to the world trading system, diminishing investment and efficiency. There are points of genuine dispute between the United States and China over their economic interaction. Even if their economic significance is often exaggerated, these are legitimate points of contention and have to be addressed in a constructive manner. The analyses in this volume aim to contribute to a more reality-based consideration of both countries’ enlightened self-interests, which would yield progress on points of dispute in a manner consistent with keeping the world economy open for business.

The USA and China, the world’s largest economic powers, have been engaging in trade war since January 2018. The impact of this trade war is felt not only by US and China but also by other economies who have economic ties with them. This book provides insights into damages caused by this trade war. The first section of the book looks at the impact of the trade war on the global economy. It goes deeper to examine the trade war impact on the South Asian region. It is well-known that any imposition of new tariffs or an increase in existing tariffs would make imports more costly and render the exported goods less competitive. Yet, the book posits that the trade war has provided a window of opportunity to other countries not caught in it. The South Asian region, with countries like Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, has actually reaped benefits from the widening trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies. This book will be a useful reference to help policymakers to undertake informed decisions and initiate programs to minimise the trade war impact.

As China continues its rise as a great power, The United States Congress and the administration wrestle with one another over the strategies to shape US-China economic relations. What major disputes now, and looming on the horizon, will shape future US-China relations? This book examines these issues and offers suggestions for both sides.

The relation between China and the United States is arguably the most important bilateral relation in the world today. The U.S. and China are respectively the largest and the second largest economies in the world. They are also respectively the largest and the second largest trading nations in the world as well as each other’s most important trading partner. If China and the U.S. work together as partners towards a common goal, many things are possible. However, there exist significant friction and potential conflict in their economic relations. The large and persistent U.S.-China bilateral trade deficit is one of the problems. It is essential to know the true state of the China-U.S. trade balance before effective solutions can be devised to narrow the trade surplus or deficit. The impacts and potential impacts of the 2018 trade war between China and the U.S. on the two economies are analysed and discussed. The longterm forces that underlie the economic relations between the two countries beyond the 2018 trade war are examined. In this connection, how a “new type of major-power relation” between the two countries can help to keep the competition friendly and avert a war between them is explored. ~~~~~~~~ Lawrence J. Lau’s timely The China-U.S. Trade War and Future Economic Relations is full of careful analysis, penetrating insight and helpful suggestions from the world’s preeminent economist on this relationship. —Michael J. Boskin Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics, Stanford University Former Chair, U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers This sober and systematic study of U.S.-China trade relations and of technological development in the two countries is particularly timely. Lawrence Lau is one of the world’s foremost economists working on these issues. —Dwight H. Perkins Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Emeritus Former Chair, Department of Economics, Harvard University This is a timely and penetrating analysis of the China-U.S. trade and economic relations, from its origins to its impacts and to a way forward. —Yingyi Qian Chairman of the Council, Westlake University Former Dean, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University Counsellor of the State Council, People’s Republic of China Lawrence Lau’s book on the current U.S.-China trade war is insightful, balanced and comprehensive; rich in data on trade, investment, science and technology. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to get past the headlines. —A. Michael Spence Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences (2001) Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University Lawrence Lau brings light in the form of rigorous honest fact-based economic analysis to a subject where most of the discussion has been heated bluster, false claims, and political rhetoric. —Lawrence H. Summers Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; Former President, Harvard University There is no topic more important, or more timely, or more urgent, than the China-U.S. trade war. Professor Lau is the ideal person to write about the implications of the China-U.S. trade war and the proposed resolution. —Tung Chee-Hwa Vice-Chairman, Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee Chairman, China-U.S. Exchange Foundation The history of Sino-American relations, to a great extent, has been a shared history. Lawrence Lau’s timely and penetrating study will tell us it is still in best interest for both countries if they continue to pursue a shared journey and destination instead of parting ways. —Xu Guoqi Kerry Group Professor in Globalization History, The University of Hong Kong Author of Chinese and Americans: A Shared History This beautifully composed book uses nontechnical language to unravel the intricacies of the 2018 U.S.-China trade war, together with its long-term impact. I learned a lot from reading it. —Chen-Ning Yang Nobel Laureate in Physics (1957)

The European Union (EU) has now become the largest trade partner of China. While Sino-US trade relations and particularly the high-profile trade disputes between the US and China get considerable academic attention for geopolitical reasons, less research has been done on the Sino-EU trade disputes that gradually loom large on the horizon. This book delves into the trade disputes between China and the EU and identifies the causes for trade disputes. It examines how the disputes will shape China-EU trade relations, and offers a macro overview on how the issues can be resolved or at least how they should be managed.This timely book sheds light on Sino-EU trade disputes, putting these in global perspective and enriching the literature in this regard.

This is the first comprehensive study by the world’s leading scholars about the political logic of the U.S.-China trade war that started during the Trump administration. The book is divided into three parts. The first part looks at changed leadership styles of the two countries in the last few years. It also examines the liberal international order since World War II in which the trade war emerged. It then explores the theoretical perspectives from both the United States and China that are related to the trade war. The second part is about the domestic factors that impacted on the trade war from China’s perspective. These factors include China’s institutional adaptation of the new international environment, the radicalization of the Chinese political discourse, and Big Power Diplomacy. The third part explores the U.S. domestic factors that impacted the trade war, such as the Trump administration’s different China policy in general, the role played by the U.S. Congress, business lobby, and the transition of foreign policy from a Wilsonian World Order to Jacksonian Nationalism.

This book puts the trade war between the United States and China in historical context. Exploring the dynamics of isolation and internal reform from a Chinese perspective, the author draws upon valuable insights from China's years of isolation prior to the famous Nixon-Mao summit. Advocating internal reform as a more productive strategy than conflict with other powers, this powerful argument for globalization with Chinese characteristics will be of interest to scholars of China, economists, and political scientists.