What they say

A huge portion of US-branded products are manufactured and sold in China and so are not counted in trade volume. US companies have benefited and earned their profits. On the other hand, the US market is limited for Chinese companies and investors. It won't be a surprise to hear that Chinese companies' investment plans have been shut down by the US government. In terms of investment, China and the US are in an unbalanced situation. The US will only achieve its "rebalanced" trade relationship if US markets open more to China.

Zhang Monan, director of the Institute of International Trade at Beijing-based Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation

Politics prevented the US administration from seeing the trend of the global economy and made the US administration think it can solve structural problems by adopting an aggressive attitude toward trade relations. If the US decides to impose tariffs on Chinese goods in an aggressive way, it will be surprised by the fact that China has the ability to fight back aggressively, too. After all, the US relies on Chinese products more than China relies on US goods.