Trade war would benefit no one: China Development Forum delegates

Foreign delegates to the annual China Development Forum have agreed that a trade war would benefit no one, and that it would be harmful to both countries and the world economy more broadly.

At the Economic Summit of the 2018 China Development Forum, the trade disputes between the United States and China were a major talking point.

The summit comes as U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum that could impose up to 60 billion US dollars in tariffs on goods imported from China.

The annual China Development Forum is held between Mar 24-26 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. [Photo: VCG]

Michael Spence is a professor at New York University, and the recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics. He warns that a full blown trade war between China and the United States would destabilize the world economy.

"If we look back at the past two years, the market has shrugged off Brexit. Populous politics and a bunch of countries and an unusual number of extreme climate events; security breaches and digital technology problems are all over the place. It's gonna take a fairly large amount to take the market off. In the context, there are reasonable global escalations in growth as IMF said. But a fully blown trade war will do it."

The Trump administration has long complained about China's trade surplus with the United States which grew by 13 percent year-on-year to reach around 300 billion US dollars last year.

Nicholas Stern, a professor at the London School of Economics, says the trade imbalance between the two countries is due to the actions of the United States.

"I hope it calms down. And I hope the United States see the measures are mistaken. They have a deficit because they spend more than their income. They don't save enough. It's to do with their own economic behavior not to do with the particular relationships with other countries. So it's bad policy based on misdiagnosis. We must hope the current US government cease soon, otherwise it would be damaging for us all."

China has long insisted that economic and trade frictions should be settled through negotiations rather than conflict and called on the United States not to put bilateral trade relations in jeopardy.

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks at the Economic Summit of the 2018 China Development Forum. [Photo: China Plus/Yang Guang]

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd believes that the two sides will eventually sit down and resolve their differences.

"When I looked at the list of measures President Trump has put out to be applied to China, and when I looked at the counter measures from China against the United States, neither of these two lists go to core, fundamental trade and economic interests of either side. I take this as a symbol or signal, which is beneath a surface; both sides are still trying to work this out. That I think is semi agreed bilateral political management routine that's been adopted."

President Trump has been pushing for the introduction of protectionist trade policies since before he was elected.

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the Economic Summit of the 2018 China Development Forum. [Photo: China Plus/Yang Guang]

At the forum, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about the value of openness when it comes to trade.

"Countries that embrace openness, that embrace trade, that embrace diversity are the countries that do exceptional. Countries that don't don't. My belief is that one plus one equals three, is that the pie if you get larger working together, it's not just the matter of carving it between sides."

The China Development Forum first began in 2000.

It takes place each year following China's Lianghui, or the two sessions of the country's top legislature and top political advisory body.