Source: CCTV News, Yuyuantan Tian.
On the morning of May 7, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that from May 9 to 12, China would visit Switzerland and hold talks with the USA during this period. Once the news was released, it attracted a lot of attention, and many people were puzzled as to why China chose to negotiate with the USA at this time. Let's take a look at the response from the spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce regarding this issue.
"Recently, senior officials from the USA have been continuously sending signals regarding adjustments to tariff measures and actively conveying information to China through various channels, hoping to negotiate on issues such as tariffs with China. China has conducted a serious assessment of the information from the USA. Based on a full consideration of global expectations, China's interests, and calls from American industries and consumers, China has decided to agree to engage in contact with the USA."
Tian noticed that many people paid attention to the word "agree" in the response, which first indicates China's attitude. However, we should focus more on the latter part of the statement, "fully considering global expectations, China's interests, and calls from American industries and consumers." These are the three major considerations for China's decision to engage with the USA. How should we understand these three major considerations of China?
Consideration 1: Global Expectations
For the two major economies of China and the USA, the economic and trade relationship between the two countries is significant for both nations and has a considerable impact on global economic stability and development. Defending the stability of the global multilateral trade system is also defending one's own developmental interests.
Since February, the USA government has been wielding the "tariff stick" globally. Even remote, uninhabited islands near Antarctica, which are home only to penguins and other animals, are on its tariff list. This kind of chaotic imposition of tariffs not only disrupts the normal functioning of the market but also exacerbates the instability of the global supply chain. The German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association has warned that such widespread tariff imposition by the USA benefits neither Europe nor the USA, but rather leads to reciprocal tariff retaliation that ultimately harms European exports and drags down the USA's own industrial upgrading. According to the World Trade Organization, global merchandise trade volume is expected to grow at -0.2% in 2025, a decrease of 3 percentage points from previous forecasts. If uncertainty in global trade policies continues to rise, global merchandise trade volume could drop by up to 1.5%.
According to USA Treasury Secretary Bessent, the Trump administration is negotiating with 17 major trading partners. However, it can be observed that most of these negotiations have not produced substantial results. In the recently concluded talks between Canada and the USA, Canadian Prime Minister Carney also stated that he did not make any decisions regarding tariffs during his meeting with Trump.
When someone undermines the global multilateral trade system, there must be others who stand up together to defend it. The world is waiting for China's voice. A few days ago, China signaled its consideration to engage with the USA, leading to a rise in major Asian stock markets including Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Seoul. Following the news today that China agreed to engage with the USA, the market's response was also swift, with significant increases in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Seoul, and most Southeast Asian stock markets.
Consideration Two: China's Interests.
Previously, in the face of unreasonable suppression from the USA, China has demonstrated its determination to safeguard its interests through multiple rounds of countermeasures.
However, this has raised questions: why agree to talks with the USA at this time?
Song Guoyou, deputy director of the American Studies Center at Fudan University, told Tan Zhu that this actually represents China's consistent attitude toward the tariff war: fighting back to the end; opening the door for dialogue, which can be seen from the two characteristics of China's countermeasures.
First, each round of countermeasures has been based on unfair high tariff coercion initiated by the USA against China. We do not seek trouble, but we are not afraid of it either. Clearly, this tariff war was instigated by the USA. China has always believed that there are no winners in trade wars or tariff wars, but the USA insists on its course, and we can only accompany them to the end.
Second, compared to the USA's unreasonable approach of 'total war', China's countermeasures are precise and moderate. For instance, in the countermeasures on February 4 and March 4, China's strategy was to accurately target and strike at key areas of interest for the US government, such as imposing tariffs on core industries in key Republican states like Autos, Energy, and Shenzhen Agricultural Products Group. When the US government announced global 'reciprocal tariffs' and raised tariffs on China cumulatively to 245%, China clearly stated: if the USA continues its numerical tariff games, China will ignore it.
From these strategies, it can be seen that China always hopes to resolve disputes through equal dialogue. Countermeasures are merely reasonable and legal actions to safeguard its own interests under extreme pressure from the USA.
Moreover, when facing other countries that use China's interests as a bargaining chip for exchange, China also responds firmly.
Therefore, the notion that 'negotiation' equates to 'giving up benefits' does not exist.
On the contrary, seeing that we are as steady as a mountain, some people become anxious.
Recently, the USA has continually released messages indicating that China is in contact with the USA. But the reality is that President Trump has repeatedly stated that China called the USA, while US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin stuttered and mumbled when asked by reporters about 'who is the initiator of the US-China talks,' claiming 'there is no initiator.' Appeasement does not bring peace, and compromise does not gain respect. The USA has realized China's resolute attitude and can only start attempting to actively convey information to China through various channels, hoping to talk with China regarding issues such as tariffs.
China's consideration is very clear—China's interests are inviolable, which is the basis for China's agreement to negotiate. The initiative for talks or actions remains in our hands.
Consideration three: The calls from the American industry and consumers.
Another point of consideration is the calls from the American industry and consumers. Song Guoyou told Tan Zhu that the voices of the American industry and consumers are the most genuine voices in the USA.
In fact, since the US-China tariff standoff occurred, the American industry and consumers have been greatly impacted.
According to foreign media analysis, during the first two weeks of the earnings reports season in the first quarter of 2025, about 40 global companies retracted or lowered their performance expectations for this year, including well-known American companies such as General Motors, The Kraft Heinz, and JetBlue Airways. At the end of April, the delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS) also announced it would lay off 20,000 workers to reduce costs.
In addition to American companies, American consumers have also expressed dissatisfaction with the USA's tariff policies.
According to CBS News, since the second week of April, sellers on the American e-commerce platform Amazon have raised prices on nearly 1,000 Commodities, with an average increase of nearly 30%. American consumers are gradually feeling the impact of the USA government’s excessive imposition of tariffs. In the process of Trump continually imposing tariffs on China, the proportion of negative sentiment in discussions related to China-US tariffs on the overseas Social Media platform X has increased from 30.8% in February to 48.7% in May.
As emphasized by Song Guoyou, the largest component of the American interests that Trump seeks to defend is actually the interests of the American industry and consumers. There is fundamentally no situation where the so-called American interests can be maintained at the expense of damaging the interests of American industry and consumers. If even these real interests belonging to the American people cannot be guaranteed, then what the Trump administration ultimately defends will only be false interests.
The consideration called for by China with respect to the American industry and consumers reflects China's consistent position. The foundation of China-US relations lies in the people, and maintaining stable development of China-US economic and trade relations aligns with the fundamental interests of both countries and their peoples, while also benefiting Global economic development. Whether negotiating or confronting, China's stance and goal of safeguarding international fairness and justice and maintaining the international economic and trade order will not change.
Editor/Rocky
