Washington must know world won't fall into 'Cold War trap'

The tariff war the United States has launched is having multiple effects across the world - seriously damaging the global industrial and value chains, hindering the global economic recovery and, worst of all, forcing the otherwise normal world economic and trade pattern toward a new "Cold War trap" by using protectionism and unilateralism.

As one of the main countries at which the Donald Trump administration has directed its tariff measures, China is taking targeted and necessary countermeasures. But it also needs to dispel the spurious narratives of the US and repair the damage they have done to international relations, in order to ensure the global governance system does not deviate from the right track. Let us first analyze the Trump administration's statements and deeds in the run-up to the tariff war.

Indiscriminately accusing other economies of harming the US, the Trump administration has politicized economic and trade issues. Its National Security Strategy and National Defense Strategy reports describe some countries as "revisionist powers" or "strategic competitors" and accuse them of resorting to "economic coercion", "theft", "plundering" and "economic aggression".