No winner in trade war: Chinese Foreign Ministry

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Wednesday reaffirmed that no one will emerge a winner from a trade war.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a regular news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday, March 21, 2018 [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

Media reported the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other trade associations urged the U.S. government not to impose unilateral tariffs on Chinese goods, as it would hurt American consumers and U.S. economic growth.

In response, spokesperson Hua Chunying said at the daily news briefing that there is no winner in a trade war, and there is no "super armor" that can guarantee the invulnerability of a certain country when it wields the big stick of trade protectionism at others.

Noting that the China-U.S. relations are mutually beneficial, Hua said bilateral economic and trade cooperation in the past 40 years had created huge markets and plenty of job opportunities for both countries, which also lowered the average costs for U.S. families.

"If the United States did not get tangible benefits from it, the China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation could not develop so rapidly," Hua said.

Furthermore, China never purposely seeks a trade surplus, she said, adding that multiple factors caused the imbalance in China-U.S. trade.

"The right way to solve the imbalance is to open the market wider to each other and make the pie of bilateral cooperation bigger, instead of launching trade wars," the spokesperson said.

She reaffirmed that if the United States makes moves that harm Chinese interests, China will undoubtedly take necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.