Meanwhile, CGTN has spoken to former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and American economist Thomas J. Sargent at the Forum on Maritime Silk Road and International Communication, which took place in Zhuhai city in south China's Guangdong province. They gave their views on the importance of free trade and multilateralism.

JEAN-PIERRE RAFFARIN FORMER FRENCH PRIME MINISTER "I think we need free trade to make growth, we need growth. If the growth of China will be weak, there's no winner, there's no winner of protectionism, everybody is loser. So we need to have a big growth in China, and we need to have a big growth in America. We can't success alone. The growth of China is good for the world, the growth of Europe is good for the world. And we NEED to have free trade of that, we need balance cooperation, we need balance of growth, but we need cooperation."

THOMAS J. SARGENT 2011 NOBEL PRIZE LAUREATE FOR ECONOMICS "I'm an American citizen, I think the trade war by the US will hurt mainly, me, American citizens in various ways directly, because I have to pay more for goods. I'm still gonna buy goods from China, I have to pay more, but now I have to pay tax to the US government. I don't like to pay that tax. The other thing is China is gonna trade with other people, that's what the belt and road, there's other people to trade with."