Competition and retaliation harmful to US and China

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Less than a fortnight after US President Donald Trump slapped steep tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines. China’s Ministry of Commerce launched an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into imports of sorghum from the United States.

Over the years, China has been an important destination for US export, especially for grain crops. As the top buyer, almost three quarters of the total US sorghum exports went to China each year. According to China’s General Administration of Customs, US exported 4.8 million tons of the grain last year, worth 1.1 billion US dollars.

/Reuters Photo

As the director of China's rural work leading group Hang Jun pointed out, all members of the WTO have the right to launch anti-dumping investigations a measure widely used in various countries. He said the recent probe is a protocol and should be viewed as simply that.

However, Director General of Center for Regional Cooperation Zhang Jianping takes a less rosy perspective. He said that agriculture goods prices in China are weakening and he does not hope the investigations are extended into similar crops.

/Reuters photo

“I think the US will not feel surprised. The US new government already raised tariff level, I’m afraid that under trump administration, there will be more anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation cases,” Zhang added.

China’s market still commands a large share of trade in the US, there is no doubt that the two economies are heavily interlinked. For the trade relations between both sides, competition is inevitable, but we want to prevent vicious competition or retaliation.”

“Trade friction cases are up, and there is strain also in cross-border investments, we hope that neither side will allow it to break into a full-blown trade war,” Zhang said.