China doesn't fear trade war, urges equal, respectful talks, envoy says

By ZHAO HUANXINin Washington | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2025-05-05 23:21

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Chinese Ambassador to the United States Xie Feng delivers a speech "China: A Steady Presence in a World of Uncertainty" at an open house event at the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, on Saturday. The embassy hosted the event, to showcase Gansu's culture, drawing in Chinese officials, foreign envoys and over 10,000 local people. Zhao Huanxin / China Daily

China doesn't want or fear a trade war, and talks should be conducted in an equal, respectful and reciprocal manner, Beijing's top envoy in Washington said, as the US-China Business Council cautioned that hefty duties, if they take hold, would significantly reduce the United States' exports.

Speaking at an embassy open house event on Saturday, Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng said tariff hikes benefit no one, but instead disrupt business, raise costs, rattle financial markets and slow global growth.

During the first 100 days since US President Donald Trump took office on Jan 20, Washington has announced sweeping tariffs, starting with a 10 percent blanket duty on all foreign-made imports.

Dozens of countries received a 90-day pause until July, but tariffs were raised to 145 percent on products from China, which has retaliated by imposing 125 percent levies on US goods.

"China does not want a trade war but is not intimidated by it. We are defending not only our own legitimate rights and interests, but also the order of international trade," Xie said.

"If the US wants to talk, it should act in the spirit of equality, respect and reciprocity," he added.

The envoy noted that trade is not a zero-sum game, and building barriers only blocks the flow of shared growth.

Saturday's embassy event, which was part of this year's Around the World Embassy Tour, featured Gansu province in Northwest China, once a front line in China's fight against poverty.

Gansu, by lifting more than 5.5 million people out of poverty and covering over 99 percent of its land with a 4G network, tells a story of resilience and self-reliance, Xie said.

To illustrate how the US has long benefited from global trade, Xie said that in 2022 alone, the revenue of US-owned enterprises in China significantly exceeded those of Chinese-owned enterprises in the US, by more than $400 billion.

"The China-US economic relationship is overall balanced and mutually beneficial," he said.

China remained the US' third-largest goods export market in 2024 and sixth-largest services export market in 2023. Trade with China in areas like agriculture, education, travel, aerospace and semiconductors supports 862,467 US jobs, according to the "US Exports to China" 2025 report from the US-China Business Council.

Total goods exports to China, which hit a high of $151.5 billion in 2022, contracted slightly in 2024, but had surged 23.4 percent from a decade ago, according to the business council's report.

The data does not reflect US and Chinese tariff increases implemented so far this year, which are expected to significantly reduce US exports if they remain in place, the council said in a news release on April 29.

Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, said, "If these tariffs remain in place, trade between the two countries will fall precipitously, sacrificing billions of dollars of exports and hundreds of thousands of American jobs, potentially destabilizing the US economy and significantly weakening America's global competitiveness."

The US administration's trade policies are already having an impact on household budgets and causing frustration among Americans who have noticed higher prices for goods, according to US media reports.

The US-imposed tariffs and the threatened and imposed retaliatory tariffs are expected to reduce the US' GDP by 1 percent, and they amount to an average tax increase of nearly $1,300 per US household in 2025, according to a study by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation that was updated on April 18.

For California, whose economy is the largest among US states, the direct and indirect economic costs of tariffs are "in the billions and billions of dollars", according to Governor Gavin Newsom.

"It has an outsized impact on tourism, on trade, small businesses, large businesses ... and the reputation (damage) is incalculable," Newsom, a Democrat, said in an online interview with Nikkei Asia on Friday.

California exported goods valued at nearly $15 billion to China last year, a drop of 9.5 percent year-on-year, but its exports of services, including those related to tourism and education, grew 6.3 percent year-on-year to $8.8 billion in 2023, according to the US-China Business Council report.

The governor, who visited Beijing last year, said the state will remain open to trade with China, as the current US administration's tariff policy has threatened California's economy. He said the state is a "stable partner" and has "extended an open hand" to China and other trading partners.

Global trade is not a zero-sum game, Newsom said.