Protectionism won't do US any good

The 21st century has witnessed unprecedented changes that have strengthened the trends of economic globalization, trade liberalization, service facilitation, informatization, digitalization, and the use of artificial intelligence. As the world's two largest economies, the United States and China have played important roles in shaping these trends.

In 2017, the combined GDP of China and the US (purchasing power parity in 2011 international dollar terms) accounted for 33.4 percent of the world total, with China's share being 18.2 percent and the US' 15.2 percent. The two countries' share of trade was 22.6 percent of the world total, with China accounting for 11.5 percent and the US 11.1 percent. As for the proportion of patent applications by their citizens, the two countries accounted for 71.3 percent of the world total, with China's share being 57.7 percent and the US' 13.6 percent.

Which shows cooperation between the two countries benefits not only their combined population of more than 1.7 billion, but also people in the rest of the world. And confrontation between them would spell disaster for their peoples as well those in the rest of the world.