Why US shouldn't wage trade war with China

The current economic and trade competition between China and the United States has entered a stalemate. After the new US administration took office last month, it once again brandished the tariff stick, attempting to extract more benefits and force China to make more concessions.

But will this approach really work?

About a century ago, the US used the tariff weapon during the Great Depression, which led to a global economic downturn and geopolitical instability. The US itself gained no benefits; it was only due to the windfall from World War II that the US economy managed to escape the quagmire of the trade war. Eight years ago, the US government tried to use the tariff weapon again to "Make America Great Again", but the result was soaring prices domestically, blocked manufacturing investment and disrupted global supply chains. In contrast, China, the object of trade sanctions, although it suffered certain losses in the early days of the trade war, the impact was not long term and it forced China to begin building a new domestic and international dual-cycle development pattern, promoting self-reliance and rapid transformation, and upgrading manufacturing.