Trade conflict requires sincerity on both sides

There is no winner in a trade war, and a solution requires sincerity from both sides of a dispute, a senior official at US-China Partnerships said.

"International trade is fair, and having an international trade deficit is not equivalent to a loss of money. Many countries have trade deficits," said Fan Bo, president of US-China Partnerships.

"There is no winner in a trade war. Impacts of hiked tariffs will be eventually passed onto consumers, hurting both the Chinese and US economies."

The best solution for the current situation is to open up the domestic market rather than raising tariffs to increase trade barriers, and trade protectionism should not be a choice, he said.

China and US need to negotiate peacefully, sincerely and under international trade rules to resolve the dispute, he added, saying he believes the two countries will solve the dispute peacefully if they respect each other's core interests.

Mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and sincerity are the foundation of international economic and trade relations, so both US and China should value such principles during the negotiation, he said.

It is not wise to resort to unilateralism or methods such as extreme pressure, which will probably cause resistance and frictions from the people, he added.

American people are very friendly to Chinese people, and hope to sustain normal economic and trade relations and cultural exchanges with China, and many political leaders and business entrepreneurs have expressed their confidence in Sino-US friendship, said Fan, also the representative for China at the Sister Cities International Foundation.