Fruitful results are only possible with honest negotiation

Note: The following article is taken from the Chinese-language "Commentaries on International Affairs".

Honesty provides the foundation for fruitful negotiations: If you can’t believe the promises of the person you’re negotiating with, the discussion becomes empty talk. Over the past year and a half, China has consistently negotiated on economic and trade issues with the United States honestly and in good faith. But China has found itself across the table from a negotiating partner that time and again goes back on its word and abandons hard-fought consensus. Earlier this week, the United States announced that it will put an additional 10 percent tariff on 300 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China starting September 1. This is the fourth time that China has been faced with backsliding by the United States.

[Photo: IC]

In February last year, China agreed to a preliminary deal that would see it increase imports of energy and agricultural products from the United States. Shortly after this deal was made, the United States announced that it would impose a 25 percent tariff on 50 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China, a decision it says was in response to the findings of its unilateral Section 301 investigation.

On May 19 last year, China and the United States issued a joint statement in which both sides agreed to refrain from fighting a trade war. But just 10 days later, the White House tore up the deal and announced that it would proceed with introducing tariffs.

On December 1, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump reached an important consensus during their meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Argentina. They agreed not to introduce additional tariffs for 90 days in order to allow for intensive talks geared toward the full elimination of all tariffs introduced since the beginning of the trade dispute. The negotiating teams met several times, and significant progress was made. But as the talks progressed, the United States piled on more and more demands, before eventually going ahead and raising tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars of imports from China from 10 percent to 25 percent on May 10 this year – a major setback for the talks.

At the end of June this year, the two presidents met again at the G20 Summit, this time in Japan. They agreed to resume the stalled talks in the spirit of equality and mutual respect, and President Trump said no more tariffs would be introduced. One month later, in the joint statement issued after the 12th round of talks, the two sides agreed that the discussions were constructive and that the next round of negotiations would be held in the United States in September. However, it took just over 30 hours for the United States to go back on its word a fourth time, when President Trump tweeted that more tariffs were on the way.

There is a Chinese saying that goes, “A man without faith will not stand, and a country without trust will decline.” Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, said even more succinctly: “Honesty is the best policy.” Some American politicians have politicized the economic and trade issues between China and the United States in order to play to their audience of supporters at home. This comes at the cost of setbacks to the negotiations and a fall in the trust the international community has in the United States.

Piling on more and more tariffs is not the way to solve a trade dispute. Rather, fair and honest consultation is how progress is made. China understands this, and so do the many business groups in the United States that have voiced their opposition to the approach being employed by the White House. More tariffs mean more pain in the hip pocket of America’s farmers, workers, and consumers. If the United States insists on imposing additional tariffs, China will have to respond with countermeasures in order to safeguard its national interests. People on both sides of the Pacific are hoping that Washington will start keeping its promises and embrace fruitful progress rather than just empty talk.