At a press conference held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on November 10, spokesman Qin Gang said that the Chinese side has called on the United States to engage in a joint effort with China to properly solve the frictions and problems concerning bilateral economic and trade relations.

According to Qin, the China-U.S. economic and trade relationship is one of the major pillars in China-U.S. ties. Unprecedented progress has been made in recent years, allowing the two countries to become important trade partners.

The frictions and disputes need to be appropriately addressed through communication and consultation based on equality and mutual respect. If improperly handled, the trade friction could escalate, triggering an all-out trade war, Qin said.

Liu Xiaozhong, a researcher at the China Business Network Institute based in Shanghai, in an Internet article stated that under the background of the global economic crisis there are obvious differences of interest between China and the United States. What the United States hopes China to bring to the table is exactly the thing that China cannot provide in the short term. Also, what China hopes the United States to maintain, such as moderate deficits and stable U.S. dollar exchange rate, is what the United States cannot currently control.

Although trade frictions are worsening, many economists interviewed by Beijing Review are optimistic about the trade trend between China and the United States. Both countries, they agree, are of sound economic minds, so it is unlikely that a trade war, which will benefit neither side, will occur.

China-U.S. Trade Frictions in the Past Two Months

U.S. Actions

On September 9, the U.S. Department of Commerce decided to levy a tariff on Chinese oil country tubular goods. The tariff ranges from 10.9 percent to 30.6 percent.

On September 11, U.S. President Obama decided to levy three-year punitive tariffs on all imported car and light truck tires from China. The tariff rate is set at 35 percent for the first year, 30 percent for the second year and 25 percent for the third year.

On October 28, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its intention to impose a tariff of 7.44 percent to 12.06 percent on $269 million worth steel grafting and steel strands imported from China.

On October 30, the United States International Trade Commission voted 6-0 in favor of an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation on Chinese seamless steel pipes. The U.S. petitioners requested a 98.37-percent anti-dumping duty against certain seamless steel pipes imported from China.

On November 3, the U.S. Department of Commerce set preliminary duties ranging from 2.02 percent to 437.73 percent on imported steel wire decking from China to offset government subsidies.

On November 4, the United States requested that the WTO establish a dispute settlement panel to rule on the exports of raw materials by China.

On November 5, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its intention to impose a 36.53-percent duty on oil country tubular goods from 37 Chinese companies and a preliminary anti-dumping rate of 99.14 percent on products of some other Chinese companies. This is the biggest trade action against China-made products adopted by the United States.

On November 6, the United States International Trade Commission announced its preliminary decision to levy anti-dumping and countervailing tariffs on coated paper imported from China and Indonesia, as well as potassium pyrophosphate, monopotassium phosphate, potassium hydrogen phosphate imported from China.

China's Response

On September 13, China's MOFCOM announced it would be launching an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation on certain auto products and chicken products originating from the United States in accordance with Chinese laws and WTO rules.

On October 12, the MOFCOM announced plans to impose five-year anti-dumping tariffs on some polyamide-66 chips imported from the United States, Italy, Britain and France starting on October 13. The tariff rate is up to 37.5 percent.

On October 20, the MOFCOM said that China would require a security deposit on nylon 6, or polycaprolactam, imported from the United States, the European Union, Russia and Taiwan.

On November 6, the MOFCOM announced plans to launch an anti-dumping and countervailing investigation on cars and sport utility vehicles of 2.0 liter and above imported from the United States.