Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan comments on the trade dispute with the U.S. in a statement sent to Bloomberg News on Oct. 7. The following are his comments in full.
On mutual benefit of trade between the U.S. and China:
We have noticed that some in the U.S. believe their country has been taken advantage of by China on trade, which has become the pretext behind the trade war started by the U.S. administration. Doing business requires mutual consent and buying or selling under coercion would not work. After so many years of business cooperation between China and the U.S., the bilateral trade in goods in 2017 grew by 233 times from the figure at the onset of their bilateral relations. If one side had been taken advantage of all the time, could such business relations have continued? Companies and consumers know best whether or not they have been taken advantage of.
China and the U.S. are at different stages of development. The majority of Chinese industries are at the bottom of the “smiling curve”, with meager profits. The U.S. is a world leader in technological strength and innovation capacity. Its companies have clear advantages in technologies, R&D and designing. By comparison, the U.S. companies are far more profitable than Chinese ones. According to research by relevant institutes, the average profit margin of U.S. companies in trade is over three times than that of Chinese ones.
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