US trashes global system for its own privilege

Editor's note: Only one day after the conclusion of the 12th round of trade talks between China and the United States, the US threatened on Thursday that it would levy 10 percent tariffs on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese goods starting from Sept 1, in total disregard of the "constructive tone" in bilateral negotiations in Shanghai. Zhong Sheng, a columnist for People's Daily, comments:

Today, the US administration does not hide its obsession with the privileges enjoyed by the US, and it is even willing to destroy international rules and systems to maintain them.

With the trade frictions it has unilaterally provoked and escalated with other countries, its exit from one international organization and agreement after another, and its resorting to protectionism and unilateralism, the US administration is constantly overdrawing the US' international credit, vandalizing the rules-based international order and hindering world economic cooperation.

The trade tensions and long-term policy uncertainties caused by the US have become the primary factors affecting market confidence and weakening the vitality of the global economy.

The US society has also voiced ever-growing oppositions to the administration's policies. There are extensive worries that if the 10 percent tariffs are imposed they will deal a direct blow to US consumers, who will become chess pieces in the US-waged trade war with China.

It is the responsibility of a major country to inject certainty into international relations and the global economy, create more conditions and opportunities for the common development of all countries. However, the current US administration has just done the opposite. In a recent World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund has lowered its expectations for world economic growth for the third time this year, and has forecast global trade will grow 2.5 percent this year, down from its April forecast.

What the US has done have become the primary factors affecting market confidence and undermining global economic vitality. The IMF had previously estimated that continued trade wars and protectionist measures could cause world economic growth to lose 0.5 percentage points in 2020.

The US administration's indifference to fairness and justice is the root of all these.