2018年CRI U.S. expert is calling on the White House to properly handle trade issues

With new Sino-US trade talks around the corner, an expert in the US is calling on the White House to listen to more voices on the issue.

Professor Ann Lee teaches economics and finance at New York University (NYU).

She suggests that it is very dangerous for America to continue down the path of a trade war with China and adopt trade policies mainly based on presumptions 1.

"I would say that the reason for the trade war is actually not about trade. The administration certainly is making unreasonable 2 demands that they know that the Chinese government cannot actually meet, and therefore it gives them excuse. It's political power, security and military power that they are mostly concerned about. They feel their last weapon is to start a trade war."

Lee adds that the U.S. government imposes tariffs 3 on Chinese goods in the name of national security, and suggests that American businessmen are reluctant to see this continue.

"I think a lot of these American businesses they are already getting economically hurt. The environment continuously deteriorates 4, and I don't think these business people have a lot influence at this point. Because you know, with these laws that are passed, FIRRMA (Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization 5 Act) basically enables national security interests to now dictate 6 what U.S. commercial business can do."

Lee also says dissenting 7 voices have been expressed from academic circles in America but are rarely reported by domestic media outlets 8.

"Well, so the opinions of academic are against what's going on, basically do not have a voice media, the media is on the side of Trump 9's aggression 10 against China. Every media repeats the same narratives 11 and there is no debate with people that actually have a different perspective."

The professor suggests that many scholars are worried about Trump's "America First" strategy of abandoning multilateralism and moving towards unilateralism, and also abandoning free trade in favor of protectionism.

"At this point, clearly Trump has already established a distain for multilateral institutions. Everything that the U.S. has originally committed to seems to be pulling out, and basically rewriting all the rules. So a lot of people are frankly 12 frightened about what's happening because this can easily lead to a recession and depression down the road, and you know, business are already being affected 13, and you know, nationalism is going to be further inside everywhere, and it's not going to be actually about solving issues. It's more about building a case for war."

Lee says some American scholars believe that if the U.S. keeps disrupting the global order, it might even cause an existential crisis for mankind.