The annual three-day China Development Forum concluded in Beijing on Monday. At the forum, economic relations between China and the United States were once again a major topic. The bilateral trade relationship is of great importance not only for the two biggest economies in the world, but is also playing a large part in shaping the future of global free trade and the world economy.

On discussion program Dialogue with Yang Rui, Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, said that rising trade protectionism throughout the world is not only harming the interests of developing countries, but also developed ones.

“Germany, Japan, China and all those countries will suffer if trade protectionism persists,” Wang stressed.

In his first visit to China, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Chinese President Xi Jinping that the US would like to develop its relationship with China based on the spirit of "mutual respect" and "win-win cooperation," which is interpreted as a positive move for Sino-US economic relations.

Einar Tangen, author and columnist, thinks it is vital for Trump to boost the US economy, and that it is impossible for Washington not to cooperate with China.

Tangen indicated that Trump’s two biggest enemies are his own party, which has doubts on his budget policy as well as his other moves, and time. “If he does not by this time next year produce results,” he could “lose either one or both of the House and the Senate” in the mid-term congressional election, Tangen said.