By Lin Qiuxiong, General Office, DRC

Research Report, No.26, 2019 (Total 5526) 2019-3-6

Abstract: The Trump administration’s actions in Sino-US trade frictions have gradually evolved from being “capricious” at the beginning to a new situation in which strategic intentions, political intentions, and economic intentions are intertwined. As time goes by, it can be predicted that the US will have a clearer and more targeted containment approach to China, and the containment measures will be more sophisticated, more diversified, and more systematic. At the same time, China’s economy is in the critical period like rolling stones uphill, and a transition period in which all kinds of risks are coming out and easy to “explode”, so it is necessary to build ourselves with a high degree of strategic strength. Sino-US trade frictions will not evolve into a strategic confrontation between the two countries in the short term, but due to the friction and conflict, it will be an important external factor that induces China’s internal risk points to be exposed too early, too fast and too intensively. Moreover, the closer we get to the second centenary goal, the more intense Sino-US trade friction will be. Therefore, in order to properly handle the Sino-US trade relations, it is necessary to strike a balance between the means and the end, people and the system/institution, the United States and the Trump administration and to establish a coping strategy combining bottom line thinking with long-term thinking.

Key words: Sino-US trade frictions, international think tank, counter measures