Washington gives just stems of thorns rather than flowers

Editor's note: Despite its repeated claim that the United States seeks to build relationships featuring reciprocity and respect for sovereignty based on fairness, in reality, Washington always pursues the goal of benefiting the US while harming other countries. Zhong Sheng, a columnist for People's Daily, comments:

If Washington truly pursues reciprocity, why does it impose tariffs on other countries and unabashedly brag about the tens of billions of dollars in revenue that the tariffs will generate for the US while gloating in the misery they cause its trade partners.

As the main founder and long-term leader of the multilateral trading system, the US used to take the lead in trade liberalization and investment facilitation. By virtue of its advantages in technology, capital and rules, the US established a global value chain dominated by transnational corporations and gained huge benefits in the global market, especially the Chinese market. According to official statistics of the US, from 2009 to 2016, the investment stock of US multinationals in China increased by 111.4 percent, while sales increased by 140.3 percent and net income by 151.3 percent. This demonstrates the US has not suffered from the global value chain, but gained from it.