The trade bullyism practices of the United States have shaken the foundations of the global multilateral trading regime, which will ultimately hurt its long-term interests, said a white paper published by the Chinese government Monday.
The new U.S. administration has practiced unilateralism and economic hegemony with a narrow focus on "America First" since taking office, said the white paper, titled "The Facts and China's Position on China-U.S. Trade Friction."
This has not only undermined the interests of China and other countries, but also jeopardized the international reputation of the United States itself, the white paper said.
The United States unilaterally provokes trade friction on the pretext of its domestic law, said the white paper.
It said the United States, citing industrial injuries and protection of intellectual property rights, regularly circumvented the dispute settlement system of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and provoked international trade friction merely using U.S. domestic law as a pretext, initiating a host of investigations under the auspices of Section 232, Section 201 and Section 301.
"Such unilateralist actions have harmed the interests of China and other WTO members. More importantly, they have undermined the authority of the WTO and its dispute settlement system," the white paper said.
The United States has been making baseless accusations against other countries' industrial policies, according to the white paper. "As an effective tool to remedy market failures and improve social welfare, industrial policies should not be subject to groundless accusations as long as they are consistent with WTO rules," it said.
According to the white paper, to strengthen its global leadership in manufacturing, the United States has in recent years formulated a large number of industrial policies, but at the same time it has made unwarranted accusations against other countries' justified industrial policies.
The white paper notes that the United States uses "long-arm jurisdiction" and imposes sanctions against other countries based on U.S. domestic laws, adding that it has been extending its "long-arm jurisdiction" to wider areas including civil torts, financial investment, anti-monopoly, export control and cybersecurity in recent years.
In international affairs, it has frequently requested entities or individuals of other countries to obey U.S. domestic laws, otherwise they may face U.S. civil, criminal or trade sanctions at any time, said the white paper.
The United States internationalizes domestic issues and politicizes economic and trade issues, said the white paper. "It has erroneously attributed unemployment caused by domestic policy and institutional flaws to international trade."
"The U.S. administration has accused other countries of 'stealing U.S. jobs through unfair trade.' China, as the biggest source of the U.S. trade deficit, is a convenient primary target," the white paper said.
However, statistics from the United Nations show that China-U.S. trade expanded by a factor of 4.4 between 2001 and 2017, yet unemployment in the United States dropped from 5.7 percent to 4.1 percent, as noted in the white paper.
In fact, unemployment of some social groups in the United States is caused by flaws in domestic economic policy and the absence of proper redistribution and reemployment mechanisms against the backdrop of technological advances and economic restructuring, the white paper said.
The white paper also said the current U.S. administration is violating its own commitments as it has turned its back on universally-recognized and widely-observed norms governing international relations, and made a series of moves in violation of its own commitments.
The opportunism of the United States toward international relations has been widely challenged and criticized by the international community, said the white paper.
"The short-sighted actions of the United States in pursuit of short-term interests harm its international credibility, and will undermine its international standing and prejudice its strategic interests," it said.
