- 鈥淒espite all the pressure, China didn鈥檛 鈥榝old,鈥� as US President Donald Trump observed. Instead, it stood firm and continually expressed its willingness to talk,鈥�
- 鈥淭he Chinese are in a state of quiet glee knowing that Trump鈥檚 trade team backed off on sanctions without getting any real and meaningful concessions out of Beijing,鈥�
BEIJING: Chinese state media on Monday praised a significant dialing back of trade tension with the US, saying China had stood its ground and the two countries had huge potential for win-win business cooperation.
A trade war was 鈥渙n hold鈥� after the world鈥檚 largest economies agreed to drop their tariff threats while they work on a wider trade agreement, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday.
The previous day, Beijing and Washington said they would keep talking about measures under which China would import more energy and agricultural commodities from the US to narrow the $335 billion annual US goods and services trade deficit with China.
The official China Daily said everyone could heave a sigh of relief at the ratcheting down of the rhetoric, and cited China鈥檚 chief negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, as saying the talks had proved to be 鈥減ositive, pragmatic, constructive and productive.鈥�
鈥淒espite all the pressure, China didn鈥檛 鈥榝old,鈥� as US President Donald Trump observed. Instead, it stood firm and continually expressed its willingness to talk,鈥� the English-language newspaper said in an editorial.
鈥淭hat the US finally shared this willingness, means the two sides have successfully averted the head-on confrontation that at one point seemed inevitable,鈥� it said.
During an initial round of talks this month in Beijing, the US demanded that China reduce its trade surplus by $200 billion. No dollar figure was cited in the countries鈥� joint statement on Saturday.
But some analysts in Beijing warned that trade tension would persist, and that China should prepare for more action on trade from the Trump administration.
鈥淲e should not be blindly optimistic,鈥� Shi Yinhong, an expert on China-US relations at Renmin University in Beijing said at a forum on Sunday after the trade agreement was announced.
鈥淏lind optimism (could lead to) China losing at this crossroads.鈥�
Shi said China could accept a lower trade surplus and reduce its market entry barriers, but would not compromise on its industrial policy.
The ruling Communist Party鈥檚 People鈥檚 Daily said that in the energy and agriculture sectors the two countries had obvious synergies, with the US having the capacity to satisfy the massive Chinese market.
鈥淭he ballast stone of Sino-US ties are an equal and mutually beneficial trade and business relationship. Its essence is win-win cooperation,鈥� it said.
But China was not being forced to increase imports as a way to ward off the trade tensions or because the country had submitted to outside pressure, the newspaper said in a commentary.
China will naturally need to import more to satisfy demand from its increasingly affluent consumers, the newspaper wrote.
鈥淭rade wars have no winners,鈥� it added in the commentary, published under the pen name 鈥淶hong Sheng,鈥� meaning 鈥淰oice of China,鈥� used to give the paper鈥檚 view on foreign policy issues.
However, some people in US business groups, who had been pushing for tougher US policies to pressure China to reform market barriers, expressed frustration and disappointment, saying it would be hard for the administration to rebuild momentum to take on Chinese industrial policies.
James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based lawyer and a former chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said the Trump administration鈥檚 move to walk back its threatened trade actions was premature, and a 鈥渓ost opportunity鈥� for American companies, workers and consumers.
鈥淭he Chinese are in a state of quiet glee knowing that Trump鈥檚 trade team backed off on sanctions without getting any real and meaningful concessions out of Beijing,鈥� Zimmerman said.