The topic this time is “Time for U.S. to change tack on China trade.”
I would like to share the contents of the article of China News Service posted on February 23.
The United States needs to take a completely different approach to address the tensions with China that a prominent economist characterizes as an "accidental conflict" that didn't have to happen.
Among the "false narratives" that led to the hostility toward China was the "trade war" started by former U.S. president Donald Trump, said Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute of Global Affairs and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.
"He (Trump) certainly took it to an extreme with this bilateral fixation on addressing our trade deficit by going after one country," Roach said at a webinar hosted by the Asia Society Northern California last week.
The U.S. had trade deficits with 106 countries, which reflects the lack of domestic saving, not the alleged unfair trading practices of one trading partner, he said.
"You can't fix your deficit problem by going after your largest-deficit trading partner," he said. "It didn't work with Japan. It's not working with China."
The better way to address the trade deficit is to make big adjustments in the structure of the U.S. economy, and the trade deficit will fall as a result, said Roach, adding that the U.S. is "unwilling or unable" to do that.
"We fixate on China because it's an excuse for not getting our own house in order in terms of managing our budget deficits over the long term and in boosting our national saving and making U.S. less reliant on surplus savings from abroad, and running massive current account and multilateral trade deficits to attract the capital," said Roach.
For further information please visit the following:
