Although the China-US trade talks in May eased trade tensions, the US changed the tide just a few weeks later by announcing fresh tariff measures against China. Recently, the US pointed out that China and its other major trading partners should take full responsibility to resolve the dispute. What is the underlying reason behind the trade war provoked by the US? And who should take responsibility in resolving the dispute? Natasha Hussain looks for answers.

The trade war spurred by tariffs introduced by US President Donald Trump aims to narrow the trade deficit with China. It looks to reduce the impact of the deficit on things like jobs and economic growth. In fact, the tariff policy is largely aimed at China's high-tech products, in order to indirectly suppress the development of China's science and technology sector.

PROFESSOR WANG XIAOSONG NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY RENMIN UNIVERSITY OF CHINA "According to a White House report from last month titled 'How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World', and the export restrictions of the American military and civilian dual-use technology products to China, it demonstrates the US' vigilance over Chinese technology development."

Moreover, two significant American strategy reports issued at the end of 2017 clearly identified the US treats China as its top rival. And through the suppression of China's emerging technology development sector via the trade war, the expert pointed out that the US can maintain its dominance and leading role in the world. However, after provoking the trade war, the US has been declaring itself as a victim, and passing the buck of resolving trade issues to its major trading partners such as China. But in fact, the US has been taking advantage of the international status of the dollar to attract foreign capital for developing its economy for a long time, enjoying low price goods as well. US companies make 200 billion to 300 billion dollars per year in China.

PROFESSOR WANG XIAOSONG NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY RENMIN UNIVERSITY OF CHINA "Since China and the US have different economic structures and development, there cannot be complete equality on trade between the two sides. The US as a consumer country with a low rate of savings, the macroeconomic structure has been gradually making itself a trade deficit country. For China, it has been looking internally to fix issues since the start of the trade friction. And it also keeps further opening up worldwide and easing accession for foreign investment for the globalization of trade. Now the US should take responsibility, because trade issues cannot be resolved without improving its own economic structure and strategic objectives."

As China's exports are highly alternative and some products are dependent on the US market, it is clear that Trump is very confident about his trade war. However, a Chinese economist said that China has ample domestic demand and a huge market, plus the rising cost of industrial raw materials will make US companies' investment increase in China, just like Tesla's recently announced plans to build a factory in Shanghai. So China does have the confidence to deal with the trade war on its end.

DR. XU HONGCAI, DEPUTY CHIEF ECONOMIST CHINA CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC EXCHANGES "The trade war will eventually push up the cost of US industrial production and consumer spending, risking inflation and negatively impacting US economic growth. Now some American business communities are aware of this."

Dr. Xu pointed out that economic globalization is driven by the general trend. And recently there was a letter signed by more than 1,000 US economists opposing Trump's trade policy. And some chambers of commerce and local governments are also beginning to take action.

DR. XU HONGCAI, DEPUTY CHIEF ECONOMIST CHINA CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC EXCHANGES "The American Chamber of Commerce and our organization have a two-track dialogue mechanism now. And there also are some local multi-level communication activities between China and the US."

With a look to the past, US President Herbert Hoover's trade safe-guarding act in 1930 led to the collapse of America's multilateral trading system. There is never a winner in a trade war, and only when the two sides carry out sincere negotiations and communication can loss be avoided on both sides. Natasha Hussain, CGTN.